


the colors of sky and rain

by Ingu



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Canon Rewrite, Drama, Drug Use, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Light Angst, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Number Five | The Boy-centric, What-If, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26214094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ingu/pseuds/Ingu
Summary: Five knew that they never stood a chance.From the moment the Handler had given him a time limit, Five knew, deep down, that they weren’t going to make it.But he had never thought that he would be the reason they failed.(the one where Five gets himself kidnapped before he meets up with Luther in the alleyway and throws a spanner in the works for everything thereafter)
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Everyone, Ben Hargreeves & Everyone, Diego Hargreeves & Everyone, Klaus Hargreeves & Everyone, Luther Hargreeves & Everyone, Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) & Everyone, The Hargreeves Family, Vanya Hargreeves & Everyone
Comments: 133
Kudos: 636





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so let's give this a go! If things go right this should be something fast-paced and dramatic in line with the show itself, significantly less introspective and Five-centric than what I've written before. Though that being said, the fic is still very much about the ripple effect of what could happen should Five spontaneously take a turn as the damsel in distress at a pivotal time in season 2. So it's still pretty Five-centric in the sense that everyone spends quite a bit of time looking for and talking about him.
> 
> Everything is canon-compliant right until the middle of 2x07, where I take things in a wildly different direction.
> 
> Unbetaed and all mistakes remain mine. I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Title borrowed from [Roses by Poets of the Fall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMpDwEvbqSs)

Five knew that they never stood a chance.

From the moment the Handler had given him a time limit, Five knew, deep down, that they weren’t going to make it. His siblings were scattered across the city, and many had built full lives they’d be loath to leave even with a full week’s notice. Klaus was literally worshipped by his followers, Allison was _married_ to someone she loved, and Vanya didn’t even know who they were until a few days ago. Even if all of Five's siblings agreed, by some miracle, to drop their lives and relationships to return home with him in less than an hour, there were still a million other possible complications. 

The Swedes were still out there, chasing them. Vanya could easily change her mind about bringing the housewife and the child. Allison’s husband might convince her to stay. Klaus might just lose track of time. Hell, someone’s car could break down along the way. There was so much out of Five’s control. And if a single one of them missed the deadline, it meant that everything he had done in exchange for this chance would have been for nothing.

But, despite it all, Five had never been one to give up against improbable odds. So like the hopeful idiot he was, he’d organized his brothers, had called Vanya’s bluff and forced her to see sense, and he’d made his way back to Elliot’s nursing the fantasy that maybe, just _maybe_ , they could finally pull together and save the world by getting out of the timeline.

There was fifteen minutes to go and they were running out of time. Five parked his car on the street and then jumped out, landing just inside the mouth of the alleyway, out of sight from the street. He started heading in deeper toward the dumpster where he had stashed the briefcase, praying it was still there waiting.

A piercing pain stabbed into the back of his neck.

Five stopped, eyes widening in confusion and disbelief, as he felt something cold enter his veins. He lifted a hand to his neck, and tugged at the thing that had stabbed him, even though he already knew what it was. 

The world was already growing blurry and muted around Five as he looked down at the object in his hand. 

_Tranquilizer dart._

“Fu-”

Five barely had the time to wonder who had just shot him before his legs gave out from beneath him.

The drugs moved fast through his system. Five couldn’t move, he could barely think. Lying there on the pavement, dread and fear fast rising to drown out all other thought, Five pulled uselessly at his powers, which only stuttered weakly in response. Then, it was impossible to do anything at all. There was no sound, no sensation, nothing but the rapidly approaching dark.

The thing was, Five had known that they weren’t going to make it. But he had never thought that _he_ would be the reason they failed.

Five’s eyes fluttered closed, and his body went limp, as every thought and feeling faded into nothing.

  
  


-

  
  


Klaus felt _awful_. 

Not the regular kind of awful, either, not the bad-trip, beat-up, or hungover-after-a-bender kind of awful. But something significantly worse than all of those things combined. It was like he didn’t fit right in his own body, like something had thrown Klaus’ very soul into a blender and pulsed it with a dash of mint and arsenic until all that was left of him was a poisoned soul-slushie now leaking out through his pores.

“I can’t believe it, I mean, you’re here,” Luther said from somewhere above him. “But Five isn’t?”

Klaus’ pounding headache made Luther’s grating personality even worse to suffer through. But that was just Luther, always judgemental and holier-than-thou and why couldn’t Klaus stop thinking about dirt? His mouth tasted like death and citrus.

“I just had the strangest dream,” Klaus murmured. Everything was hazy. The Backstreet Boys was singing in his head. 

For a moment, he just lay there, waiting to feel less miserable. Then maybe he could try to engage with whatever was causing Luther to have a meltdown. Something about Five. 

Beside him, Ben was groaning. And the fact of it made Klaus a bit happier. Klaus was glad Ben was miserable, the bastard deserved it for what he just did to him.

“Klaus?” Luther said. “You alright?”

“Eh,” Klaus waved a hand weakly.

Luther sighed, and then muttered something (probably rude) under his breath.

The minutes ticked down, and Klaus started to feel a bit more human again, instead of just like something vaguely human shaped. Meanwhile, Luther kept checking his watch, his anxiety visibly and then audibly growing as none of the others showed. 

“We’ve got a minute left.” Luther slammed the lid of the dumpster, making the entire thing roll and bounce. 

“What’s going on, Luther?” Klaus mumbled, his voice hoarse. “Are we going somewhere?”

At the moment, Klaus wasn’t even sure why exactly he was lying in an alleyway next to Luther. But Ben had dragged his body halfway across the city for some reason, and Klaus assumed it was something Ben had decided was important. 

Had Ben hugged Diego? Klaus remembered Diego. Wasn’t Diego supposed to be here? 

“Where _is_ everybody? Why isn’t Five here?” Luther ignored Klaus completely, his voice fading as he walked away to check the other end of the alley before returning to Klaus again.

Klaus decided he’d ignore Luther back. It wasn’t like he had any answers. His head was still trying to murder him.

“I can’t believe this,” Luther muttered. “Something’s wrong. There’s no way Five wouldn’t be here. He’s the one who found us a way home.”

That sounded about right. Five was the type to yell at the rest of them for not showing up on time. Though Klaus really loved the idea of getting to be the one to tell Five off this time instead of the other way around. _We were worried sick about you! How could you do this to us, your loving siblings?_

Klaus awkwardly pushed himself into a sitting position, and regretted it instantly as the pain in his head flared. He moaned, curling in a little on himself. There was some sort of muffled whirring and clicking sound coming from the dumpster that was really getting on his nerves.

_Wait_. _What_?

“Uh, do you hear that?” Klaus said, staring confusedly at the dumpster in front of him.

“What?” Luther said, dramatically whirling around to glare at Klaus.

Klaus pointed at the dumpster, and Luther turned to look at it, frowning. Ben also pushed himself up, and joined them in their confused staring.

At that moment, there was a warping sound and a zap, as blue light flashed from inside the metal container. Both Luther and Klaus jumped, staring with matching faces of wide-eyed alarm.

A few seconds later, when nothing else happened, Klaus watched as Luther walked to the dumpster and cautiously lifted the lid. Luther stared down into it for a moment, frowning as he looked around.

Then, Luther checked his watch, and sighed. He stepped back and let the lid slam shut, his shoulders sagging. 

“Well?” Klaus said, confused.

“Just trash. Five must have put the briefcase in there. It’s gone now.”

“Oh,” Klaus said, not feeling quite the same disappointment as Luther as his possession-hungover mind tried to catch up with the developing events. “Guess we’re not going home then.”

“Now what?” Luther moaned, face-palming as he leaned one elbow on top of the dumpster.

“I don’t know,” Klaus mumbled. “Isn’t the baby brother usually the one with the plans?”

“Well he’s not _here_ , is he?” Luther said, shifting out of his _thinking_ pose to glare at Klaus. Then, his face twisted with worry. “Something must have happened. Five wouldn’t miss his own deadline like this.”

“Ergh,” Klaus groaned, rubbing his face. “Does this mean we have to _find_ him?”

“Have you seen him today?”

“No…” Klaus sighed. He hadn’t seen Five since the dinner. Then he remembered how Reginald had asked him to stay behind. “Maybe Dad killed him.”

“What? Luther said, frowning in disbelief. “Why would Dad kill Five? He was like the only one out of all of us that Dad seemed to _like_.”

“Maybe it was all a ruse to get him to let down his guard. I don’t know, Luther. What does Five even do half the time? Do you know? He’s just always running around and yelling at us for causing the apocalypse. Or not doing enough about it.”

“Yeah, well...” Luther grumbled. “He’s clearly been up to something since he found us a way home. Shit, he was covered in blood. Do you think it was the Commission? Maybe the Swedes got to him.”

“Wait, blood?” Ben, who had been looking between Klaus and Luther with something between confusion and worry, suddenly spoke up.

“Who are the Swedes?” said Klaus, confused and offended that he didn’t know. When did Scandinavians get involved in all of this? Also, why didn’t anyone ever tell him anything?

“They’re these Commission assassins who have been coming after us,” Luther said, beginning to pace. 

“Klaus, ask him about the blood,” Ben insisted next to him. “What is he talking about? What happened to Five?”

“I dunno,” Klaus mumbled, looking away from Luther. He was starting to get dizzy from watching the pacing. “Maybe he finally pissed off the wrong people and got hurt?”

“Just ask him!” Ben shouted.

Klaus waved him away. “Oh, shut up.”

Luther turned to Klaus with widening eyes as the possibilty in Klaus' words hit him. 

“Shit, we never checked.” Luther muttered, a look of guilt falling across his face. “He just told us to go find you and Allison and then ran off looking for Vanya. We need to find her, maybe she knows what happened to Five. We have to check on Allison too, something must have happened to her if she’s not here.”

Trust Luther to start taking charge immediately in his old Number One way. 

“What about Diego?” Klaus mumbled, clambering unsteadily to his feet. “He’s usually quite a responsible young man, no?”

“Right,” Luther said, as though only just remembering he had a fourth brother. “We need to find him too.”

“Doesn’t he care about Diego?” Ben said, looking faintly hurt on Diego’s behalf.

“Please.” Klaus turned toward him. “Of course he doesn’t care about him, have you met Diego?”

“Klaus, stop messing around,” Luther said. “We’ll go check on Allison first, and then we’ll go find Vanya, hopefully she knows where Five is.”

“Ah, priorities,” Klaus muttered. It was clear who Luther’s favorite sibling was. “No surprise there.”

“Shut up, Klaus.” Luther said, and then started walking away toward the end of the alley.

“By the way, you?” Klaus turned to hiss at Ben the moment Luther was out of earshot. “You have had your possession privileges _revoked_.”

“I regret nothing!” Ben threw nothing but smugness back in Klaus’ face.

“Klaus, come on!” Luther shouted from the end of the alley, glaring at him.

“Stay out of me!” Klaus yelled behind him as he started to run toward Luther.

“I regret nothing!”

  
  


-

  
  


Diego popped into Allison’s home with Herb to find, weirdly enough, almost all of his siblings except Five standing in the living room. 

Everyone, including who Diego assumed to be Allison’s husband, was staring at him. Klaus was perched on the couch, while Allison and Raymond flanked Luther, who stood in the centre of the room cradling what looked like a carpet-wrapped corpse in his arms

“Oh, good, most of you are here,” Diego said, deciding not to remark on the dead body situation. They had more urgent things to deal with right now, like how Vanya was about to blow up a building and start a nuclear war.

“Oh, wow,” Herb laughed next to him. “Number One, Two, Three, _and_ Four. You’re just missing Mr Five, and we’d have an Umbrella straight flush here!”

“Actually-” That was a good point. Diego frowned, looking at his gathered siblings. Everyone else was here. “Where _is_ Five?”

“Oh.” Luther, who had been looking at him with an almost hopeful expression, frowned. “We were all hoping you might know.” 

Diego rolled his eyes at Luther’s words. What was he, Five’s keeper?

Then, Luther seemed to finally notice he was still carrying the body, and awkwardly lowered it back to the floor. Diego saw a glint of white hair from one end, and frowned. Did they kill one of the Swedes or something?

“You know what? Five doesn’t matter.” Diego said. “We have more important things to deal with right now.”

“Like what?” said Klaus.

“What do you mean he doesn’t matter?” said Luther, scandalized.

“Like _the apocalypse_ ,” Diego spat, glaring at each of his brothers in turn. “We _will_ find him, _later_ , okay? But right now we have a doomsday to stop!”

“Alright, jeez, no need to shout.” Allison took a step back, wincing. 

“You know, when you say nice things like that, it’s almost like Five never vanished.” Klaus smiled as him sadly.

“What?” Diego blinked, confused, before he realized how much he’d sounded like Five just then. 

Was this also how Five felt, all the time? This concentrated sense of simmering fear and frustration that made Diego want to punch something ~~and maybe burst into tears at the same time~~? His anxiety over JFK had loomed over him for months, but it had never felt as suffocating as this. This wasn’t just his own life, it wasn’t only the life of the president, this time it was everyone and everything, the present and the future. All of it was riding on them doing something about the impending end of the world.

“Ray, this is my _other_ brother, Diego,” Allison said, gesturing at Diego with a look screaming _deeply unimpressed_.

Right. Diego looked over at Raymond, suddenly realizing he’d never introduced himself.

“Hey man,” Diego went over and shook Raymond’s hand, apologizing for crashing in.

“Who's this guy?” Klaus said, gesturing at Herb.

Diego introduced Herb, who explained the Commission to the others before Diego stepped forward to drop the bombshell about Vanya. It was thrilling being the one with the answers and the plan this time around. They had a chance to save both Vanya and the president and stop the apocalypse. This was the type of shit they were all trained for.

His speech was interrupted, however, when Allison’s husband started having a breakdown in the corner, and Allison rushed over to calm him. It left Diego, Herb, Luther, and Klaus in a small circle of their own, trying to give the couple some privacy before they left.

“But why would Vanya blow up the federal building?” Luther said, staring at Diego accusingly. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Because the feds probably _arrested_ her, Luther. I don’t know why but she is in that building right now.” Diego said. “Having a Russian name probably didn’t help.”

“Wait, Five went to find Vanya,” Luther said, eyes widening with realization. “What if he was there when she got arrested? That must be where he is, he’s trying to save her!”

“Oh, I uh, I suppose that’s possible,” Herb beamed. “Mr Five has caused quite a stir at Headquarters with his commitment to saving the world. And, well, don’t tell Dot I said this, but quite a lot of us do support him. It’s just… such a _shame_ if all of humanity has to die, you know?”

Diego grit his teeth, shoving down a surge of what most definitely wasn’t jealousy at hearing Herb singing praises for his brother. The thing was, Luther’s words weren’t impossible. But it was annoying as hell to think that despite everything Diego had gone through to get the information about Vanya, Five could somehow still be one step ahead.

“Well, I’m sure other arguments could be made,” Klaus said airily.

Luther turned to stare at Klaus in disbelief. “Are you saying you _want_ the world to end?”

“We’re killing the Earth, Luther!” Klaus said, waving his hands in emphasis. “Have you _seen_ the state of the rainforests?”

“We’re stopping the apocalypse, Klaus.” Diego said, crossing his arms. He glared at Klaus and dared at him to say otherwise. 

“Oh, I’m sure a _nuclear holocaust_ is going to be great for the environment,” said Luther.

“Well, I didn’t say I wasn’t going to _help,_ ” Klaus said. “I just think we as a species are really overrated, you know?”

“God, I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Luther mumbled. “But I really wish Five has already saved Vanya just so Klaus can’t fuck it up for us.”

“Hey!” Klaus yelled, affronted.

“Look, Luther, I know it’s _nice_ for you to think Five can do everything, but I doubt he knows about this.” Diego said. “If he did, why hasn’t he come back to get the rest of us? You really think he can break someone out of an FBI office by himself?”

“I mean if any of us could it’s probably him, right? He’s the one who can jump through walls.” Luther said.

Okay, so Luther had a point, but it didn’t mean that was what was happening here. Diego opened his mouth to retort.

“He does seem to like running off by himself,” Klaus mumbled, a faintly thoughtful expression on his face. “And Luther hasn’t been very nice to him lately.”

“Hey!” It was Luther’s turn to be disgruntled.

“He’s not wrong, you did throw him off the stairs,” Diego said with a smirk.

“You did what?” Herb gawked, looking absolutely stunned and delighted. Diego had the faint impression the entire Commission was going to know about this by the end of the day, for them, whenever that was.

“That was-” Luther’s mouth slammed shut. “I was going through some stuff at the time, okay? You know how pushy and annoying he gets. I mean, expecting Dad to solve our problems for us? We all saw how the dinner went.”

“Yeah, well, tell me about it,” Diego sighed, ignoring the hurt that stabbed through him at the reminder of his humilation. “Look, either way we need to get to the building, _if_ Five is there trying to save Vanya, then he’s going to need our help.”

Diego still didn’t want to believe it. But Five had been looking for their sister when he vanished, and what Luther suggested could be true. And if Five _wasn’t_ there, then they were still the ones who had to stop their sister.

Beside him, Luther sighed sullenly, and crossed his arms.

For a moment, there was silence, Diego glanced over at Allison to find her making out with Raymond. He immediately looked away in disgust.

“Oh, shit, what if the feds arrested Five too?” Klaus said suddenly, his eyes lighting up. “Maybe that’s why he never showed up?”

It was hard for Diego to imagine Five and the word ‘trapped’ in the same sentence. Walls and locks meant nothing to their brother. If what Klaus suggested was true, surely by now Five would have broken out to find them or to save Vanya.

That was, unless he was unconscious, or too hurt to get out of whatever situation he’d found himself in.

“I don’t know, but either way we need to find Vanya first,” Diego said, shoving the worrying thought aside.

At that moment, Allison walked back to them, her eyes red-rimmed.

“Okay, let’s do this.” Allison said, looking at them. “I’m ready.”

Diego nodded at Allison. It was time to go. He quickly thanked Herb and asked him to send some Commission body removalists to take care of the dead Swede. Allison kissed her husband goodbye one last time, and then, they were rushing from the house for the car outside.

Diego had missed this, the adrenaline, the purpose, the knowledge that they were doing something good, something important. His family could make fun of his supposed hero complex all they want, but it didn’t change the fact that they were the ones who were going to make a difference. 

They were going to save the damn world. And Diego was going to save the president.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to all of you who commented! I'm so glad that this concept has been interesting to you guys. I hope you enjoy this chapter. :D
> 
> I feel like I've miscalculated the chapter lengths but you live and you learn.
> 
> Still unbetaed, apologies for the mistakes I know are in there.

_Blurry, muted colors. Shadows, shifting and moving around him._

_“I think he’s waking up?”_

_“Kid, hey, can you hear me?”_

_He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak._

_“Hey, kid?”_

_Thoughts twisted and swirled around him, refusing to take shape._

_Everything faded._

-

  
  


It took less than an hour for Luther and his siblings to make it to the federal building. They discussed something like a plan along the way, which in the end leaned heavily on Allison’s powers of persuasion. In fact, it depended almost entirely on Allison rumoring the agents to let Vanya go. But the rest of them were there to back her up in case they had to resort to more extreme methods.

All the way up in the elevator, Luther nursed the small hope that everything might go smoothly, and that they’d find both Vanya and Five safe. That hope sputtered and died the moment the elevator began to shake, and the very air started to vibrate with a deafening thrumming noise.

Luther’s heart was already pounding even before the elevator doors opened straight into a scene from a horror movie - corpses pinned to blood-smeared walls, their eyes burnt out like everything inside had melted.

The FBI staff were all dead, but Vanya’s powers showed no sign of stopping, sending out wave after wave of energy through the entire level. Everyone except for Luther was pinned to the elevator wall, barely able to move.

They had to get to Vanya. They had to stop her, and save her. 

So Luther stepped out of the elevator, crawled over the counter, and started to push his way down the corridor. With each step, he prayed that neither he nor his siblings would end up like the burnt out corpses scattered around them.

Most of the time, Luther’s size and weight only ever caused him problems. Over the years, he had banged his head on low ceilings and doorframes more times than he could count. Smaller elevators would start buzzing the moment he walked in, and old or cheap furniture often cracked and broke beneath his weight. His body burned through so much energy he had to eat several times the amount of normal people just to function. 

Every day, Luther had to manage himself carefully, and always think twice before interacting with the world around him. In his darkest moments, he hated his changed, deformed body with every fiber of his being, could barely stand to look at himself in the mirror each time he got dressed.

But now, with waves of energy buffeting his body, Luther was glad for all of it. His weight kept him anchored to the ground and his superhuman strength let him push his way down the corridor when anyone else would be sent flying. Luther didn’t want to think how much trouble his siblings would have getting to their sister if he hadn’t been here to help them.

Slowly, but steadily, Luther made progress down the corridor as his siblings peeked at him from over the edge of the counter. The light was so bright it was hard for him to see, and Luther shielded his eyes as he forced his way deeper down the hallway, toward the room Vanya had to be in.

One step, then, another step, and he was there at the door. Reaching out to grab the rattling handle, Luther twisted it and then stumbled back several steps as the door slammed open with a burst of energy. 

Without the door absorbing some of the force, and at this distance, the energy coming from Vanya was so strong that it was hard even for Luther to put one foot in front of the other. He grit his teeth against the pummelling energy, and pulled on all of his strength to force his way inside. He could barely discern anything beyond the blinding white light, but he knew that Vanya was in there, and they had to stop her somehow.

Inside the room, in between the flashes of light, Luther caught glimpses of Vanya’s form, strapped to a chair, convulsing. The loud crackle of electricity jumped out at Luther. Looking around, he found some sort of machine with snaking wires attached to it, connected to Vanya. Though the energy waves seem to have killed the people around her, the furniture and electronics around her had remained unharmed. 

That had to be it. Luther bent to examine the machine, but couldn’t figure out how to work it. Swallowing a curse, he started moving behind the machine, and pulled the power cord from its socket in a moment of desperation.

The crackle of electricity abruptly stopped. And almost immediately, the force of Vanya’s energy waves dropped, as though there was less for her powers to resonate with. Luther took a deep breath, realizing that it no longer felt like there was a cement truck parked on top of his chest.

The pulses of light were also less intense, and it became easier to see in the room. Luther blinked, trying to adjust his eyes, as he moved toward Vanya. The electricity had stopped, but his sister still lay slumped backward in the chair, limp and unmoving. Vanya’s eyes were wide open, her irises a solid white as she stared unseeingly at the ceiling.

“Vanya?” Luther reached out and shook her gently, his heart pounding. “Vanya, hey!”

There was no response. With a spike of fear, Luther checked her pulse, and let out a breath of relief when he found it beating fast but steady.

“Luther?” Allison’s voice sounded behind him. “Is she okay?”

Luther turned around to find the others had pushed their way to the doorway. Allison pulled herself through the door first, before pressing herself against the wall, grimacing as waves of energy continued to buffet her. 

“I don’t know,” Luther said anxiously, turning back toward Vanya to look over her. “Something’s wrong, she’s catatonic.”

“What?” Allison breathed. She squinted against the pulsing light at their sister. “Vanya! Vanya?”

There was no response. Beside Allison, Diego was pulling himself through the doorway as well, before pressing himself to the other wall.

“What’s going on?” Diego said as Klaus started climbing through. “Why hasn’t she stopped?”

“They were electrocuting her,” Luther said, not knowing what to do as he stood uselessly next to Vanya. “Her eyes are white again, like at the theatre.”

With no better options, Luther pulled the band from Vanya’s head, and started undoing her restraints. Behind him, Klaus pressed himself to the wall beside Allison.

“Vanya!” Allison shouted again.

There was no movement from Vanya, but Luther checked her again anyway. She was still staring up at the ceiling, completely unresponsive.

“Nothing!” Luther said.

“Dammit,” said Allison, and there was only a small pause before she spoke again. “ _I heard a rumor that you woke up_.”

“Uh,” Luther stared at Vanya as Allison’s power took effect, and Vanya’s eyes flashed fully white.

All of them waited, Luther holding his breath, but as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened. The energy waves were still pulsing, and the air around them was thrumming as light continued to flash.

“I don’t think she can hear you!” said Klaus.

“No, her eyes flashed,” Luther said, confused. That should have worked, Allison’s power always worked. Why wasn’t Vanya waking up?

“So what, she’s already awake?” said Diego.

“I-I don’t know.” Allison said. “What do we do, guys?”

They all stared at each other, waiting for someone to say something. Luther had no ideas, and it seemed, neither did any of the others. 

“So, what, are we going to try to kill her again, or-?” Klaus said eventually.

“No!” Allison said. “We’re not going to kill our sister! Why do you guys keep suggesting that?”

“It’s what you guys were planning to do last time,” Klaus mumbled, indignant.

“Look, whatever it is we need to do it fast,” Diego said. “This is an FBI office, there’s going to be people coming to investigate any second and we don’t want to be here when they arrive.”

“What can we do?” Luther said. “We can’t move her like this.”

“God dammit,” Allison cursed again. “Could you… knock her out or something?”

“What, no!” Diego shouted. “Do you remember what she did to us the last time we tried something like that when she was like this?”

“Wait, what are you doing?” Klaus said suddenly, staring at Luther with wide eyes.

“I’m not doing anything?” Luther said, frowning in confusion.

“What? No.” Klaus said, his eyes focusing briefly on Luther before they settled on… Luther again? “You can possess _me_ , I’m the special one. It’s not going to work on _her_.”

“Klaus, _focus_ ,” Diego said.

“Who are you talking to?” said Allison as she watched Klaus with a look of disbelief.

“Huh.” Klaus blinked dumbly, his gaze drifting to Vanya. “I guess you can.”

“Klaus, what are you going on about?” Luther said.

Klaus glanced around at each of him, then sighed, making some sort of groaning whining sound like a toddler having a tantrum.

“ _Fine_ , it’s Ben.” Klaus sighed, he tried to lift a hand, but it thumped almost immediately back to the wall. “Ben just… possessed Vanya.”

_Ghosts can’t time travel_.

_I’m Ben!_

_We made it!_

Suddenly, everything Klaus had been doing since their reunion made sense.

“Wait, he’s been here this whole time?” Allison yelled at Klaus, her eyes going wide. 

“Did he just possess Vanya?” Diego said. “Oh shit.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Luther shouted, his anger flaring. This whole time, Luther had just thought Klaus was being his stupid, attention-seeking self. Why had Luther believed him the first time? Of course Klaus could have been lying, _was_ lying. Luther hated that he wasn’t even surprised.

Klaus just groaned dramatically. “Well, I’m telling you now, aren’t I?”

Diego growled, and Allison groaned. Luther sighed, echoing their anger and frustration.

“So… what now?” Allison said. “Do we just wait?”

Luther turned back toward Vanya, uncertain. She still looked the same as before.

They waited.

  
  


-

  
  


Vanya hadn’t known what she’d see when she opened her eyes to the real world again, but it wasn’t her siblings - Luther, Allison, Klaus, Diego - all of them staring at her with joy and relief in their eyes.

Ben had told her that everyone was outside, fighting to save her, but somehow, seeing them with her own eyes had the truth of it hit Vanya with the force of a tidal wave. They were here. They came for her. Relief, guilt, gratitude, shame, everything swirled together inside of her, raw and overwhelming.

“Vanya?” Luther said, something soft and disbelieving in his voice. He stood over her with a hand on her wrist, and squeezed gently.

Vanya smiled weakly at Luther, and then the others. “Hey.”

Allison pushed away from the wall and ran forward, falling to her knees beside Vanya. The next thing Vanya knew, she was being pulled into a tight hug. 

“Oh thank God, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Allison said, her words muffled against Vanya’s hair.

Taken by surprise, Vanya sat there stiffly for a moment before she lifted her arms and awkwardly hugged Allison back. Something inside of her was unravelling, and her eyes began to burn with tears as Allison squeezed her with all the strength of her delight.

Vanya felt strangely fine despite the torture she knew she’d gone through. It was like her powers had picked up on the electricity coursing through her and made it a part of herself somehow, directing it outward at everything that had tried to hurt her. She glanced around, and couldn’t see either of her interrogators. But some part of her, instinctively, knew that she had killed them.

She just almost ended the world again. 

Horror gripped her heart and Vanya squeezed Allison tighter without thinking, soaking in every scrap of comfort she could get from the warmth of her sister.

_You’re not alone at the table anymore, Vanya_.

Ben’s words were still ringing in her mind, and Vanya wondered if his ghost was still here as well. As close as she had just come close to ending the world again. She’d stopped. She regained control. Vanya didn’t know what to do with the knowledge, this new understanding that maybe she could still master her power, that she could prevent this from happening again. But she knew she couldn’t have done it without Ben, without the reminder that she wasn’t alone. Her siblings had come for her, they still loved her. They’d stopped the worst from happening.

“I-” Vanya said, her gaze drifting to Klaus. “Is Ben here? I think I saw him, he talked to me.” _He saved me_.

Klaus’ wore a gentle smile as he watched her. Then, he nodded, glancing at something over Vanya’s shoulder as he lifted his hands and clenched his fists, focusing to activate his power.

Ben emerged beside Vanya in a flash of blue, his eyes bright. 

“Hi guys.” Ben said, grinning and waving at all of them. 

“Ben!” Luther said, his voice faint as he stumbled back, his entire face lighting up with delight.

Allison pulled away from Vanya to look at Ben, and she was smiling so hard it looked like it hurt. Vanya shakily stood up as Allison moved back and pushed herself to her feet. Near the wall, Diego was grinning dumbly at Ben’s ghost.

“Good to see you,” Diego said.

“I can’t believe you never told us!” Allison said to Klaus, her lips pressing into a pout as she stepped toward their brother to slap him on the arm.

“Hey! Ow!” Klaus jumped back, his powers fizzing out. Ben vanished.

Vanya laughed softly as Allison did it again, then she looked around, her brows furrowing when she realized that that their eldest brother was nowhere to be seen. _Where was Five?_

“Well, I think we did it?” Luther said, smiling widely. 

“Building’s still here,” agreed Diego.

“Did we save the world, or what?” laughed Klaus.

“Where’s Five?” Vanya said, frowning. She’d have expected Five to be here. He was the one who told them all about the apocalypse, and had been the one most focused on stopping it. It made no sense that everyone was here but him.

Everyone turned toward her at once, their expressions falling. 

“Right, Five.” Allison’s eyes grew worried. “Have you seen him? We thought he might be with you.”

“Yeah, he never showed up to the meeting place.” said Luther.”

“What do you mean?” Vanya said, fear roaring back to life in her chest. “He came and told me he found a way home, then he drove off. He never met up with you guys?”

“Well, there goes that theory,” Diego sighed in the back. “Told you he didn’t know about her.”

“Is now really the time for an I-told-you-so, Diego?” Allison said with a glare.

Luther’s expression matched Allison’s, looking equally unimpressed. Klaus made a face.

Diego just rolled his eyes, and crossed his arms.

“When did you meet him, Vanya?” Diego said. “Do you remember?” 

“Uh…” Vanya tried to think. “Maybe somewhere around… two-thirty? He said we had thirty minutes, I think?”

“And how far away from Elliot’s were you when he found you?” Diego asked.

“Gosh, uh,” Vanya said, trying to do the maths in her head. “I don’t know. Fifteen minutes? Or maybe twenty?”

“So he went missing somewhere between Vanya and the alleyway?” Allison said, looking around at the rest of them.

“Okay, wait, are we all just going to ignore that Vanya got herself _arrested_?” Klaus said. “Vanya, what happened to you? How did you end up here?”

“Oh…” Vanya said. “I… I tried to bring Sissy and Harlan with me. Sissy left her husband a note, and Carl must have called his brother. We got stopped by state troopers on the way to the Elliot’s.”

“State troopers?” said Luther.

“Yeah, they set up a roadblock?” Vanya said. “I tried to defend us but they took me by surprise, knocked me out.”

“Shit,” said Klaus, head tilted in thought. “What if they got Five too? He’s a kid driving a car, that had to look suspicious, right?”

“Yeah,” Luther said. “Could he have gotten arrested as well?”

Diego’s expression was skeptical when he turned his gaze back to Vanya. “Do you think Five could have followed you?”

Vanya thought about it. Five seemed to have believed her when she lied about not bringing Sissy and Harlan. But what if he’d stayed behind to wait for her? What if he’d run into the state troopers? Did he see them arrest her? Could he have used his powers but got caught like she did, and then got handed to the FBI as well? 

Vanya looked around the room again, noticing for the first time the dead bodies in the corners. Both corpses had nothing but black, burnt out holes where their eyes used to be, like their eyes had melted. If the FBI had also somehow gotten their hands on Five, if they’d brought him to this same building…

A terrible possibility crossed Vanya’s mind, and horror rose inside of her. She looked up to find the others staring at the bodies alongside her with widening eyes, clearly coming to the same realization she had.

“Oh fuck,” Allison said.

Vanya tore from the room, turning right down the corridor. Behind her, she heard the rest of her siblings also running from the room, scattering into the offices.

“Five?” Vanya yelled, her voice shaking as terror tried to choke the words from her throat. 

_Please don’t be dead_.

Darting around a dead body on the floor, Vanya opened one of the offices, and found another two people slumped on the floor, dead. She ran, going from room to room, looking desperately for any sign of Five, the terrifying image of a small, uniformed corpse with burned out eyes filling her mind.

_Please don’t let me have killed him._

“Five!” Vanya called over and over, hearing her siblings echoing the name from other parts of the level.

Everywhere she looked, there were dead bodies slumped against walls or desks. Her power had left solid surfaces untouched but had seemed to melt something inside of people’s bodies. Yet, there was no sign of Five in any of the rooms.

“Anything?” Luther said, eyes wide with panic as Vanya returned to the hallway intersection.

“No, there’s no sign of him,” Vanya said. Where could Five be? Was he maybe on a different level? In a different building? Did they have to check Dallas PD? No, if it was just the police that held him Five shouldn’t have any trouble escaping. Where _was_ he?

Just as Vanya met Luther, Allison also emerged from the opposite end of the hallway. Within seconds, Klaus joined them again, coming up the corridor leading toward the elevator.

“Nothing.” Allison shook her head, something between fear and relief in her eyes.

Klaus shrugged, his face serious. “Don’t see him.”

Luther looked among them with growing confusion. “Wait, where’s Die-”

The sound of gunshots sounded in the distance.

Everyone’s eyes widened. It was only then that Vanya remembered the date, and realized what time it must be.

She ran to the window, the others on her heels, only to see the motorcade driving off in the distance. Down on the grassy knoll, two black clad figures were sprawled across the green, as the wind blew a black umbrella away from them.

“So, wait, is the president…?” Klaus started to speak.

There was a faint _ding_ in the direction of the elevator.

Vanya and the others all looked at each other, and then ran for the stairwell as a woman began to scream.

  
  


-

  
  


_“How much did you give him?”_

_Sounds. Too loud too sharp too painful._

_“Why the hell is he still out?”_

_Light. Too bright too harsh too burning._

_“If he dies, this is on you.”_

_His mind retreated._

  
  


-

  
  


It was late afternoon by the time they made it back to Elliot’s, and exhaustion was well and truly starting to take hold of Allison.

It had been a struggle for all of them to escape Dealey Plaza with the freshly swarming police presence all around them. Allison had to use her power more times than she had ever wanted to just to get everyone safely out of the building, and despite their best efforts, she was pretty sure all of them had been spotted. In just a few days or even hours, they were probably all going to become wanted for the deaths in the federal building, if the authorities didn’t also decide to pin the president’s assassination on them too.

Even though they’d just saved the world, any joy and comfort they could have found in the fact was dampened by the fact that Five was still missing. With each passing hour, it seemed more possible he was in some sort of danger. From the moment Vanya told them all she had no idea where Five was, Allison had been regretting the fact that she’d talked Luther into resting the night before instead of immediately continuing their hunt for Five.

Even after Luther and Klaus had shown up at her door, ready to offer help and asking for her assistance, Allison knew she couldn’t abandon Ray. She couldn’t leave her husband on his own after he had just almost been killed by people who came for her, people who, as it turned out, had murdered Elliot. At the same time, she couldn’t drag him with her into possible danger by going with Luther and Klaus. 

Then, Luther had refused to leave her after finding out she’d been attacked, and in the end, it had just seemed reasonable for them all to put the search on hold and get some rest for the night. At the time, Allison had been sure that if they just stayed and waited, Five was sure to show up on their doorstep sooner or later. Five had surely been safe from the Swedes when it was her that they’d gone after. He ran off all the time to do things on his own, but he always came back. It was easy to convince herself, and then the others, that it would be okay to take a break.

Then, instead of Five, it was Diego who appeared in her living room preaching about doomsday.

Downstairs in the television showroom, Diego turned on one of the screens, and settled against the bannister to watch the news. Before long, Allison and the others were all gathered around it, attracted by the voice of the anchor as he announced the death of the president. Allison watched her fears come true as each of their faces appeared on screen, and the news anchor branded them all as terrorists and fugitives. 

How had the FBI identified all of them so fast? Allison wondered if their father and the ‘sinister cabal’ that Diego had mentioned hadn’t had something to do with it all.

“God, I hate that photo,” Diego muttered as the announcer cycled through their photos a second time, emphasizing their depravity.

“They’re saying I instigated the riot?” Allison said, anger burning in her veins as her own photo reappeared. Were they really just going to make her sound as dangerous as possible instead of reporting the actual truth? “That’s unbelievable.”

“Look,” Luther smiled in a way he probably believed was reassuring. “The good news is that we restored the timeline and stopped doomsday. So-”

“Yeah, a real bunch of goddamn heroes,” Diego muttered. “We let Kennedy die.”

Diego hadn’t stopped sulking about Kenedy’s death since he showed up again at Elliot’s. At this point, Allison was in the mood to join him. 

“Yeah, and now we’re officially the most wanted people in the world.” Allison said. How had all of their lives blown up this spectacularly? “The FBI is after us, the Dallas police, the Secret Service. I mean, it’s only a matter of time before they hunt us down here.”

“Well, at least Five isn’t wanted by the police,” Luther remarked, still trying to find a silver lining in the nightmare they now lived in.

“He looks about twelve, Luther,” Klaus said. “They’d probably just decide we kidnapped him or something.”

“Oh, right,” Luther mumbled, frowning.

“And isn’t he still missing?” said Vanya. “Wait, what if someone _did_ kidnap him? What if that’s why he hasn’t come back?”

“Who would want to kidnap Five?” Klaus said, staring at Vanya with an expression of doubt.

Right, Five. On top of their new wanted status, that was yet another problem they still had to solve. The Swedes probably hadn’t taken Five, but there were still the people they worked for.

“What about the Commission?” Allison suggested. “They’ve been chasing us this whole time, haven’t they?”

“That’s right,” Diego muttered. “And they’re never going to stop unless we go back to 2019, probably not even after.” 

_And_ their third problem - the organization of time travellers trying to kill them. All at once, Allison painfully missed how relatively simple her existence had been just a week ago, before Klaus, Luther and all the others all showed up again in her life.

“I mean, if we want to just give up on Five,” Klaus said. “I have this yurt just outside Reykjavik-”

“Klaus!” Luther snapped. “We’re not giving up on Five.”

“I’m just offering it as an option if we don’t find him,” Klaus said, matter of fact. “The people there are very nice, you know. Even if they’re a bit weird.”

“What?” Diego said. “No, if we’re making a stand, we’re making it here, alright?”

“What _stand_?” Allison interrupted. “We can’t stay here, we need to find Five!”

Had it always been this hard to get the family to focus on what was important? Allison was sure it had been easier, once upon a time, maybe when they were still teenagers, fighting crime in private school uniforms.

“For all we know, he probably abandoned us again,” Diego said, whirling to face her. “The first time he vanished it was for seventeen years, and then last time he was gone for months, or _years_ , for some of you. What makes you think he hasn’t just given up on us and ran off to a different time again? How do we know if he’s even still around?”

Allison blinked. She didn’t know. None of them knew if Five was still around. But Diego was being ridiculous. That wasn’t who Five was and they all knew it. 

“He wouldn’t just vanish without saying anything. What if Vanya was right?” Allison looked over at Vanya, only to find she had wandered away at some point. “What if he’s been kidnapped by someone? Being held against his will?”

“Yeah, Diego,” Luther said. “He’s the one who found us a way home, why would he just give it up like that?”

“Maybe he decided something else was more important.” Diego muttered, crossing his arms and looking away. “The asshole had no problem with having me sedated and leaving me in a mental asylum.”

Despite his obstinate words, there was a torn look on Diego’s face that told Allison he knew she and Luther were right. Suddenly, Allison realized that Diego was being a contrary dick just for the sake of it. Her brother was lashing out because he was angry, and he was probably just as worried about Five as the rest of them.

“I’m leaving.” Vanya’s voice suddenly sounded.

Everyone turned toward Vanya in surprise. She stood at the foot of the stairs opposite Allison, looking among her siblings nervously.

“What? To go where?” Allison said, moving down the stairs. Why would Vanya bail on all of them when Five was still missing?

“Sissy’s farm,” Vanya said. “Something’s wrong with Harlan, and I need to help him.”

“Vanya, we need to stick together, okay?” Luther said, frowning. “Now more than ever.”

“That’s why I’m telling you this,” said Vanya, stepping forward. “Whatever is going on with Harlan I think I might have caused it.”

Allison listened as Vanya explained, not knowing what to make of it all. Vanya bringing someone back to life? Sharing some sort of mental connection? Even for their family, all of it sounded ridiculous.

“I know that Harlan needs my help,” Vanya said. “I need your help too.”

“But what about Five?” said Luther. “He’s still missing, we need to find him.”

Klaus pointed at Luther, nodding. 

“I know,” Vanya said. “And I’m worried about him too, but we have no idea where he is or where to even start looking. And I think what’s happening to Harlan is really bad. Once I’ve helped him, I-I’ll come straight back to help look for Five, okay? But I… I don’t want to do this alone.”

Vanya’s eyes were scared, and begging them for help. Instinctively, Allison wanted to say yes. Vanya shouldn’t have to face whatever was wrong with Harlan alone. 

But Five could be in even worse danger, and he had already been missing for over a day.

For a moment, there was silence, as each of them considered Vanya’s plea.

“Look, I’m sorry.” Diego was the first to speak, a faint look of guilt in his eyes. “We have other priorities right now.”

“What, now you care about Five?” Luther said.

“There’s also the fact that we’re wanted by the _police_ , and the _Commission_ ,” Diego snapped back.

Allison sighed as the bickering started anew. Vanya was shrinking back on herself, looking heartbroken.

“Well, look, why don’t we just split up?” said Klaus suddenly, staring intently at Vanya with worry in his eyes. “I’ll go with Vanya and you guys chase up this Five thing.”

“What? Klaus, I just said, we should be sticking together.” Luther said.

“Which is why I’m going to stick with Vanya, alright?” Klaus said. “All you guys do is fight anyway. Vanya is like the only sane person out of all of you. Ben agrees with me, by the way.”

“Uh…” Vanya didn’t seem to know what to do with the strange compliment.

“Come on,” Klaus stepped forward and snagged Vanya’s wrist, pulling her away. “Let’s go help your kid. I've got you, you don’t have to face the unknown alone...”

Then, they were gone. 

Allison stared at where Klaus and Vanya had disappeared. Almost instantly, guilt started to chew at her. 

“Maybe we should just go with her.” Allison said as silence stretched among them.

“Weren’t you worried about Five?” said Diego.

She was. The first twenty-four hours were the most important in missing persons cases and they had spent almost none of it actually looking for Five. Allison desperately wanted to help Vanya. But at this point, for Five, every second counted.

“Well... fine.” Allison sighed, then she started going back up the stairs. “But I’m not going to talk about it down here anymore. Turn that off.”

Someone turned off the television, and both Diego and Luther trailed after her to the upper floor. Before long, they were all settled around the coffee table. Luther was slumped with his arms folded, and Diego was tossing a knife absently. Allison sat at the edge of her chair, thinking about the research she’d done for a missing persons detective she’d once played. Now was the time to canvas and talk to potential witnesses. Not that they could get away with that since all of them were now wanted. 

How the hell were they supposed to find Five?

“Alright, well, who might have a motive to hurt or kidnap him?” Luther said.

“Well, the most obvious answer is the Commission,” said Diego. “The Handler seems to have it out for him.”

“Then maybe she sent someone else?” Allison suggested. “The Swedes were attacking me at the same time Five went missing, so it couldn’t have been them. Diego, could you talk to your friend again? See if he knows anything?”

“Uh…” Diego’s eyes went a little bit wild. “I don’t… actually have a way to contact him.”

“What do you mean? You don’t have his phone number?” Allison said.

Diego made a moue. “I didn’t have time to ask, alright? I was trying to get back here as fast as I can to stop an apocalypse!”

“Christ, what are you even good for, Diego?” Allison exclaimed, her simmering anger and frustration breaking through the surface. How could Diego fail at something this basic?

“Hey, I’m the reason we saved Vanya!” Diego said. “Besides, we’re part of a clandestine Résistance against the Handler, communicating too much would just put him in danger.”

That explanation came far too late for Allison to even begin to believe it, she grit her teeth and forced herself to calm down. Getting mad wasn’t going to help Five right now.

“Well, there has to be someone else we can talk to, then,” said Luther. “Who else do we know who might be able to tell us something about the Commission?”  
  


Allison took a moment to think. The thing was, all the Commission agents she knew of were either unreachable or dead. She remembered the two agents who had attacked the house, back in 2019.

“Didn’t Five say Hazel tried to help him before he died?” Allison said, remembering Five’s words during their family meeting. “There’s also the Swede who died at my house.”

Diego and Luther stared at her, eyes widening as they all realized the same thing at the same time.

“We need to go find Klaus and Vanya,” said Diego, shooting up from his seat to grab his coat.

Klaus. He could talk to ghosts. He could summon one of the Commision agents and they could use that to track down Five.

“I told you we should have just gone with them!” Allison said, jumping up.

Then, there was a whirlwind of motion as all of them grabbed their equipment and ran out of the apartment. The last one to leave, Allison slammed the door shut behind her, and began rushing down the stairs.

She was halfway to the exit before the evening chill hit her full force. Allison paused, fighting back a full body shiver at the cold, before she cursed under her breath.

“Wait, let me get my cape!” Allison shouted out as she spun around to run back up the stairs.

“What?” Luther said, turning toward her. “Allison, come on!”

“Hurry it up!” Diego yelled up at her, already holding open the downstairs door.

“Give me a second!” Allison shouted. 

As Allison ran up the final steps toward Elliot’s door, she slowed, her face twisting with confusion as she saw that something was pinned to the wood. 

Then, her eyes widened as she understood what it was.

“Guys!” Allison shouted.

“What is it?” Luther’s voice rang from below.

“Get back up here right now,” Allison yelled, “you need to see this!”

There was an uncertain pause, before the sound of rushing footsteps sounded again, as Allison’s brothers ran back up the stairs toward her. Luther, then Diego, slid to a stop behind Allison as they crowded around the door, staring at the message someone had left behind for them to find.

A note, pinned to the wood with a pocket knife. On the sheet of paper, spelled out with words cut out from magazines, was:

_An eYE FOr an Eye_

A familiar tie hung from the tip of the knife. 

“What the hell?” Diego murmured.

“Is that… Five’s tie?” said Luther.

The danger for Five, previously only imagined, was most definitely real. As Allison stared at the message, fear wrapped its cold grip around her, and settled around her shoulders, ready to whisper terrible thoughts in her ear.

Someone had Five. Someone had taken their brother.

But why? What did the message mean? 

What the hell did they do this time?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to all of you lovely folk who left a comment! I appreciate each of them very much.
> 
> Again unbetaed, apologies for any mistakes you may find.

There were two people standing in the middle of the field. 

From a distance they were hard to see clearly, and Klaus had to squint to try and make out some detail. Both were dressed in black, though one looked a bit more stylishly outfitted than the other. The woman(?) also had something faintly briefcase shaped in her hand.

“Who the hell...?” Ben piped up from beside him, staring with a worried frown on his face. “Do you think they might be Commission?”

The briefcase and the flash of blue light that had attracted Klaus to begin with certainly suggested it. Klaus watched the new visitors for a moment, frowning, before he turned back toward Vanya with the idea that he should probably point them out to her.

However, in the middle of the barn, Vanya was busy yelling at Harlan, one arm outstretched as she tried to talk the boy down from exploding the entire building. Outside the force field, Sissy was focused intently on her and Harlan, and paid Klaus no attention at all. Klaus opened his mouth, and then closed it, realizing that neither of them were really in a position to deal with the possible Commission agents outside.

When Klaus looked back at the two people in the field, they were still standing there all creepy like, giving off a vibe between bored and expectant. They hadn’t started any sort of ominous approach, and hadn’t yet pulled out any guns or rocket launchers, and that was faintly reassuring. 

Klaus waited a bit longer for something to happen. A minute passed, and the people in the field still hadn’t moved. It was almost like they were waiting to be noticed. Which usually meant that they wanted to talk, right? Behind him, Vanya was still shouting at the boy, this time about how everything was going to be okay. 

Klaus considered his options. Stay and potentially get blown up by some kid or go investigate the interesting and mysterious Commission people who may or may not be here to kill them? A small part of Klaus’ brain screamed for him to run for the car and drive the hell away. But that wasn’t a _real_ option, since the whole point of Klaus tagging along was so Vanya wouldn’t have to face danger alone. 

It was just that when he’d signed up for this he hadn’t really been counting on there being any actual danger. But then he saw the snowstorm, and now there were these people in the field. Again, unsurprisingly, Klaus had completely misjudged the risks of his commitments. 

At least he had Ben.

In the end, the correct answer was unfortunately obvious. Klaus sighed, shrugged, and turned to head for the door.

“Wait, Klaus, where are you going?” Ben said, doing a double take as Klaus walked away. He started following Klaus.

“What does it look like? I’m going to go talk to them,” Klaus said. 

Klaus walked around Sissy, who only threw him a confused glance before turning back to focus on Vanya and Harlan. Vanya was still shouting at Harlan and the boy showed no signs of calming down anytime soon.

“What? Klaus, they could be here to kill you and Vanya.” Ben said. “Don’t you remember what happened with Hazel and Cha-Cha?”

“I’ll be fine, alright?” Klaus rolled his eyes as he stepped out into the snow. And he remembered, it was hard to forget being non-consensually tied up and tortured, even if the event was now three years in the past. But it wasn’t like Klaus would actually stay dead even if he was killed, the least he could do was get some information out of them and stall for a while. 

“Look, just wait for Vanya,” Ben pleaded. “You shouldn’t go alone.”

“Eh, I mean, am I ever really alone?” Klaus replied, looking Ben up and down. 

Ben just gave him that long suffering look again, something screaming helplessness and frustration.

“I-” Ben sighed. “This is a bad idea, Klaus.”

“Stop worrying, you’re too young to act like a grandma,” Klaus said. Why did Ben always have to question everything he did? His choices didn’t always end in regret and disaster. “Anyway, if there’s trouble, you can do your tentacle thing. There’s only like two of them.”

The last time Klaus had been in trouble, he hadn’t known he could manifest Ben. This time around things were different. A brother who could rip people apart with his power was one hell of a bodyguard.

“I don’t like this,” Ben insisted. 

Klaus waved him away, and then started walking determinedly if unsteadily toward their visitors. The snow was _freezing_ and his shoes were not made with snow in mind. Ben sighed dramatically, before he followed taunting Klaus in his undeath as he stepped lightly over the top of the snow.

It took Klaus a very long time to cross the open field, long enough for him to see that it _was_ in fact two women waiting for him, and to also start doubting whether it was really the right decision to go and confront people who probably _were_ here to kill him. Just because he knew he wouldn’t stay dead didn’t mean he enjoyed _dying_. This whole thing would definitely be safer with Vanya at his side.

_But_ Klaus was here to protect her and watch her back, and this seemed to be the way to go about it, even if it was starting to feel more and more ill-advised. Besides, Klaus had a better chance of surviving a conversation than he had an actual fight. With Ben in his pocket, he wasn’t _that_ worried. And Klaus had never really talked to any Commission people aside from Hazel and Cha-Cha. Were all of them equally freaky? There was only one way to find out.

Eventually, Klaus was close enough to see the two women’s judging and almost confused faces. They stared at him with a familiar expression of disdain, like he was a piece of toilet paper stuck to their shoe or something. It didn’t bolster Klaus’ confidence. But he was already here, so what the hell.

“Uh, hi?” said Klaus, offering a little wave as he was finally close enough to start talking. “I’m Klaus. Are you ladies from the Commission?”

“Where the fuck are Five and Diego?” said the younger woman, who Klaus immediately labelled ‘the angry one’.

“Oh, you’re snappy aren’t you?” Klaus said, studying her. Up close she looked even broodier than she had from a distance, with the whole smeared eyeliner, yellow highlights thing she had going on. Klaus really enjoyed the 00s emo vibe. “And I don’t know, actually, Diego’s probably back at the apartment? Five might have gotten himself arrested, or kidnapped, or _something_. It’s been a _weird_ day.”

“Hey, maybe don’t tell them that?” Ben snapped. “They’ve been trying to kill everyone this whole time!”

Klaus ignored him. He was trying to be friendly so they wouldn’t try to kill him, not that Ben understood anything about charm and social graces. That and buy time for Vanya to finish doing her thing, however long _that_ was going to take.

“What do you mean _kidnapped_?” The angry one said, her face twisting with disbelief, as though the mere suggestion of it was a personal affront. “He’s a trained assassin. He can _teleport_! Who would even manage something like that?”

Klaus shrugged. He was going to ask, but now it definitely didn’t seem like the Commission was behind it.

“Social services?” Klaus suggested. “Kid’s been running around without parental supervision for days now. It’s probably about time the authorities did their job.”

The older lady, in a blonde wig with a really nice coat, hummed with a faint air of annoyance. “Well, that _is_ unfortunate. I suppose I could adjust my plans, considering these circumstances.”

“Shit,” the angry one muttered, before he turned toward where Ben was standing with a frown. “And who the hell are you, exactly?”

Both Klaus and Ben stared at her dumbly for a few seconds, before it clicked for them both. 

“Wait.” Ben said, eyes widening with excitement.

“Who’s who?” Klaus said, eyes narrowing with suspicion and disbelief. Was what he thought was happening actually happening?

“Your buddy here.” Angry lady gestured at Ben.

“Sweetheart, who are you talking about?” The blonde said curiously.

“This guy right h-” Angry lady paused, her expression going blank. “Oh.”

“You can see me?” Ben exclaimed, and then started laughing. “Oh my God!”

“How-” Klaus muttered. This made no sense. “Wait, you can see ghosts?”

“Shit,” the angry lady muttered, her expression almost pained as she stared at Ben. “You’re the dead one.”

“Yes!” Ben’s laughter was hysterical as he staggered forward, eyes wide with delight. “I _am_ the dead one! God, finally! Someone who can see me besides Klaus!”

The angry lady rolled her eyes.

“Okay, alright, who even are you guys?” Klaus said, taking a step back. “And how can you see dead people? That’s like, _my_ thing.”

“Darling, won’t you be a dear?” The blonde said, nodding toward Klaus.

“What?” Klaus frowned.

“Klaus!” Ben shouted, but it was too late.

Before Klaus could so much as react, the angry lady stepped forward and punched Klaus in the face.

Pain exploded in his head. The lights flickered and went out.

  
  


-

  
  


It had taken a worryingly long amount of time and a dozen careful reassurances, but Vanya had done it. She talked Harlan down. 

The swirling vortex was gone, leaving only a forcefield bubbled around Harlan as he sat in the middle of the barn, curled in on himself and rocking back and forth. Vanya’s heart clenched at the sight of him. The boy was terrified. This was her fault. God. How did she keep doing these things? It was like everything she touched, she accidentally ruined.

“Harlan, Harlan, whatever it is I gave you, I can take it back, okay?” Vanya said anxiously, gingerly gripping his arms. “We just- We need to stop this.”

Harlan’s eyes were wide and helpless as they stared at her. Following nothing but instinct, Vanya brought her hands together, reached forward, and _pulled,_ channeling every desperate feeling inside of her. She could feel it, parts of Harlan’s soul resonating in response to her power. Those were the parts Vanya had given away, points of light that called out to her, answering when she willed them to return. Little by little, she tugged them back into her body.

The force field popped and vanished.

There was a moment of quiet shock, and then, Sissy rushed forward to pull her son into her arms, thanking God over and over for the miracle as she squeezed him tight. Relief washed over Vanya like a wave, and she turned, smiling, to look for Klaus.

Her brother was nowhere to be seen.

“Klaus?” Confusion flickered across Vanya’s face.

Climbing to her feet, Vanya looked around the barn, before she noticed movement from outside in the field. She walked to the opening in the wall, her eyes widening as she saw two women approaching her in the snow. 

A terrible feeling slammed into Vanya’s chest at the sight of them, the same one she’d had when she’d found the road blocked by a milktruck and three strange men.

“Shit,” Vanya muttered, spinning around to run for the door. “Sissy! Hide with Harlan!”

“What?” Sissy turned to her in surprise. “Vanya, where are you going?”

“Just hide!” Vanya screamed as she sprinted outside and around the barn, slipping and sinking in the freshly fallen snow.

She barely made it to the opposite side in time.

“Who are you?” Vanya shouted, sliding to a stop and blocking the women’s way just as they walked up to the building. “Why are you here?”

Their unusual demeanour and the suitcase swinging by the blonde woman’s side screamed Commission. Whatever they were here for, Vanya wasn’t going to let them hurt Sissy and Harlan. _Where was Klaus_? Vanya prayed that her brother hadn’t gotten himself into danger without her noticing. Maybe he got bored, and was only in the chicken coop, tormenting the birds or something. _Please let him okay._

“Ah, I suppose we haven’t met,” said the blonde woman. Her smile was polite, yet distinctly predatorial. “You can call me the Handler. This is my daughter, Lila.”

Next to her, Lila gave Vanya a merry little wave, a smirk rising to her lips.

“Now, if you don’t mind getting out of the way, my dear, we’re not here for you,” the Handler said gently, though the threat was clear in her eyes. 

“Then what are you here for?” Vanya said, getting more worried about her brother with each passing second. “What do you want?”

“Nothing you can give us,” said the Handler with a vague smile. “By the way, in case you’re wondering, your brother is just over there, taking a little nap.” She turned to point behind her.

“What?” Vanya said. She followed her gaze, and her breath froze as she saw a black lump on the ground in the middle of the field. _Klaus_.

“What did you do to him?” Vanya stepped forward, her eyes turning white as she summoned her powers.

“He’s only sleeping, don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Lila said, studying Vanya with a look of amusement. 

Neither of the women seemed the slightest bit intimidated by Vanya, and the fact of it threw her off. Her eyes darkened back to brown as her power receded. 

“Look, this is a very lovely chat, but I’m only here for the child,” the Handler said. “If you would step out of the way, _Vanya_ , nothing has to happen to you.”

There was an unspoken _yet_ in her words. There was only one reason the Commission would suddenly develop an interest in Harlan, and the snow surrounding them probably had something to do with it. Vanya didn’t have to know the Handler to not trust anything she said.

“You're not going to touch Harlan.” Vanya spat, her hands clenched into fists as her eyes flashed white. “I’ve taken his power away, he’s just a kid.”

The Handler’s expression twisted into something ugly. For a second, her fury was a palpable force. “You _what_.”

“He’s just a normal child, you don’t need him,” said Vanya. “I was the one who gave him the power, and I took it away.”

The Handler glare was colder than the snow around her. Then, she visibly collected herself, before she turned her frosty gaze on Vanya. “Well, no matter. I suppose I’ll just have to take you after all.”

Without waiting for them to attack first, Vanya pulled her powers forward and flung forward a wave of energy.

Lila’s eyes instantly flashed white, and a force field materialized around herself and the Handler, absorbing Vanya’s energy wave.

Vanya’s mouth fell open and she took a step back. _What the hell was that_? That couldn’t be possible. Had she just-

Lila’s eyes were still white as she regarded Vanya with a slow tilt of her head. Beside her, the Handler smiled down at Vanya, like what she had just done was just some amusing little parlor trick. 

Vanya felt frozen, as though she was a tiny mouse, cowering in the corner as the cat advanced on her, uncertain if she was going to be toyed with or eaten alive. _How was Lila doing that?_

“Your turn, my dear,” said the Handler.

Lila grinned.

Realizing the danger, Vanya tried to summon her own force field. But the next thing she knew, a wave of energy flung her back into the barn wall. There was a crack, a stab of pain, and the world went black.

  
  


-

  
  


_“He hasn’t moved in a while. Is he still alive?”_

_“I don’t know, you check.”_

_“You’re the one who dosed him again!”_

_“So you check him!”_

_Something was roughly shaking Five. The pain in his head intensified. He felt sick._

_Five opened his eyes._

_“Fuck!” Something clattered loudly, sending piercing pain through Five’s head._

_Five blinked, unable to focus his eyes. Everything was blurry and distorted._

_Where...?_

_What was happening?_

_Sensations refused to coalesce into anything like thought. The darkness rose around him, and swallowed him whole._

  
  


-

  
  


“Come on, eye for an eye?” said Luther. “It _has_ to be the Swedes.”

“Luther, listen to me, it can’t be them,” Allison said, her hands tight on the wheel. “They were at my house when Five disappeared! They couldn’t have kidnapped him.”

Since the moment they found the note and Five’s tie pinned to Elliot’s door, the conversation had been going around in circles. Luther was convinced it was the Swedes, Diego swore up and down the Commission sent new agents, and neither of them would listen to Allison when she told them it had to be someone else. As exasperation built inside of her, Allison resisted the urge to take her frustrations out on the gas pedal. They weren’t going to be of any help to Five if she crashed the car.

Outside, copses of trees and empty fields flashed past as they drove down the country road, heading toward Sissy’s farmhouse.

“But they can time travel, can’t they?” Luther said, leaning forward from the back seat. “What if they could be in two places at once? You said it yourself, only two of them showed up to your house. What if the third one went and kidnapped Five?”

“I’m telling you, the third Swede is probably dead,” Diego interjected, turning around in the passenger seat to face Luther. “They went after Elliot for a reason. I bet Five’s the one who killed him.”

“That’s just your guess, Diego. You don’t actually know that.” said Luther. “And wasn’t it _your_ knife in Elliot’s body? What if they killed him for something _you_ did?”

“Well, I see one problem with that, because unlike Five, I haven’t killed anyone!” Diego yelled. 

In another ten minutes Allison was probably going to kill her two brothers.

“And that knife’s been missing for a while, they could have gotten it anywhere.” Diego continued. “I probably just left it on a table or something.” 

Allison sighed. Why were they still having this conversation? All of the evidence pointed to it being someone else.

“Look, whatever it is that Five or Diego did to get Elliot killed?” Allison said. “The Swedes left their message in _blood_ , and in Swedish. This time the note was in English, and someone clearly took the time to cut out letters from a magazine. The message might be similar, but that’s a completely different M.O.”

“Then who else could it be?” said Luther. “I just don’t think it’s the Commission. I mean, they’ve been trying to kill us this whole time. Five would probably be dead if they were the ones who got to him. But a note like that? A kidnapping? That sort of thing is _personal_.” 

“Which it’s why I’m saying,” said Allison, “it’s probably someone else. Five did something to piss them off and now he’s in trouble for it.”

“But what about you, Allison?” said Luther, doubt flickering across his face. “You killed one of the Swedes, didn’t you? The one we rolled up in a carpet? Maybe his brother is out for revenge because of that.”

What, now it was her fault? 

“That makes no sense,” said Allison. “Even if they somehow time travelled to get revenge, wouldn’t they have just, I don’t know... killed Five and left his body for us to find? Like with Elliot?” 

Allison’s voice grew smaller and smaller as she spoke. She had been avoiding thinking about this, images of finding Five dead, cold, bloodied, were not things she needed in her head. 

“Why the kidnapping?” Allison continued quietly. “There’s not even any ransom. What do they even want?”

A silence fell over them then, and for a long time, the only sound in the car was the rumbling engine, and the tires grinding upon the poorly kept roads.

Despite their best efforts to dance around the possibility, it was getting harder and harder to ignore the likelihood that Five might already be dead. The Swedes had been out to kill them this entire time. And the last time someone had taken revenge on one of them, Elliot had been murdered. There was nothing to suggest that this time, it hadn’t happened again. Allison knew the only reason someone wouldn’t ask for a ransom was if they didn’t plan to give the kidnapped person back. Five had already been missing for over a day. Everything pointed to the worst possible scenario that so far, none of them had been willing to acknowledge.

Allison remembered the Swede lying dead on her couch, but this time, her mind replaced it with Five, pale and unmoving.

“Well... what if Five took someone?” said Luther, eventually breaking the silence. “He could have kidnapped someone and took their briefcase, maybe that’s how he got us a way home, and why the Swedes kidnapped him in return.”

“Oh, please, he definitely killed someone.” Diego said. “Five showed up covered in blood, remember? That doesn’t scream murder to you?”

“That doesn’t mean someone definitely died,” mumbled Luther. 

Allison glanced in the rear view mirror, and caught a glimpse of Luther’s miserable expression. Like Allison, Luther was trying hard to find reasons that Five could still be alive. As long as Five hadn’t killed anyone, then no one would have a reason to kill him in revenge. 

“What, did you think he took a stroll through an abattoir?” said Diego, having none of it. “No, he definitely killed someone to get a briefcase. And it probably pissed off the Commission enough for them to take him. Who else would possibly have the skill and resources to get the drop on Five?”

Even as Diego said it, he sounded vaguely disgusted by his implied praise of Five’s abilities. There was something weird about how Diego had transferred his bizarre competitiveness against Luther to Five instead, as though he didn’t know how to function without some sort of authority figure to rebel against. But Allison had no interest in pointing out Diego’s issues to him at the moment. 

Right now, she was trying not to think about the fact that none of them even knew if Five was still alive. Five had vanished trying to get all of them home, and their best and only lead right now were dead people who might not even agree to help them.

Allison wondered then, if Diego’s initial dismissal of the danger Five was facing hadn’t been his own way of reassuring himself that Five was safe. Allison wasn’t going to give up hope. Not on Five. Their brother had survived decades in an apocalypse, they couldn’t lose Five to some sort of strange and unknown threat like this after everything. They’ve gone through too much to lose him, to give up on him, now.

“I don’t know, Diego,” Luther said. “But I’m telling you, if the Commission has him, they would have just killed him.” 

Luther didn’t say ‘ _and that can’t be true because_ Five _can’t be already dead’_ , but Allison heard it anyway _._

“Luther, you don’t know anything about the Commission, okay?” Diego said. “I’m the one who got recruited by them. _I’m_ the one who knows how they work.”

Allison sighed. And they’ve come around in a full circle, _again_.

“Look, what if... he escaped?” Allison interjected, trying a new line of reasoning before they started going down the same road, again. “What if he… got hit by a car or something?”

“Then that car would probably have been driven by a Commission assassin,” Diego insisted. “I’m telling you, these guys have access to all sorts of resources and disguises. One of them was dressed up like a milkman when they shot up the sanitarium, their agents could be anywhere, pretending to be anyone.”

“But why would the Commission suddenly decide to kidnap Five?” said Luther. “All this time they’ve been trying to kill him! Why would that suddenly change?”

“I don’t know, maybe Five has information they’re after,” said Diego. “They kidnapped Klaus back in 2019, didn’t they? They do whatever they need to get the job done.”

Allison was reaching the end of her rope, and about ready to rumor her two brothers into silence. She let out a breath, her gaze darting to the side of the road as something white flashed in the corner of her eyes.

“But that’s the thing, their job is to kill Five!” said Luther. “Not to kidnap him! What about the note? An eye for an eye?”

“Jobs can change! Maybe whoever they sent is getting some revenge on the side.”

A truck was parked off the road behind the trees, Allison could just make out the word _Dairy_ as their car passed by.

“So you _agree_ , it _could_ be the Swedes?”

“Luther, why are you so damn obsessed with the Swedes?”

A milktruck?

“Diego, did you say milkman?” Allison said, slamming her foot down on the brake. 

Both her brothers cursed, and reached out to brace themselves as the car tried to throw them forward. In the distance, Allison could see the farmhouse, strangely covered by a layer of thick snow.

“Yeah?” Diego said, turning to her in confusion. “Why the hell did you stop?”

“We just passed a milktruck down the street,” Allison said, suspicion took root, and refused to let her go.

It was almost night time. There was no reason for a milktruck to be out here in the middle of nowhere like this, parked on the side of the road, no less.

Could it be-?

Luther spun around in his seat, and Diego pulled the rear view mirror toward himself to check behind them. 

It was hard to see in the fading daylight, but there was still a smear of white visible through the trees, stretching tall enough to be a truck.

“Huh.” said Luther.

Diego squinted. “Holy shit.”

  
  


-

  
  


Luther sat tight as Allison turned the car around, and they pulled off the road to park across from the suspicious milktruck. The vehicle was hidden behind the first row of trees, crammed in among the trunks with what looked like barely enough space to open any of the doors. 

They each got out of the car, and cautiously approached the seemingly abandoned vehicle. The paved road ran out beneath his feet, and Luther stepped onto the dirt, careful to keep quiet as he grew closer to the seemingly abandoned vehicle. They split off as they grew closer, Luther and Diego taking the front as Allison investigated the rear of the truck. 

Up close, it was easier to see the writing on the side of the truck - Goldfield Farms Dairy Products. It was definitely a milktruck just like Allison had suggested. Ducking under a branch, Luther peeked into the cabin. 

There was no one inside, and the rear seemed to only be filled with empty crates and bottles. 

Luther exchanged a glance with Diego. This was too unusual to just be a coincidence. If this was the same truck being driven by the Swedes, then what did it mean? Had the last Swede followed Vanya and Klaus when they left the apartment?

Walking around the truck, Luther found Allison on the other side. She met his inquiring gaze, and shook her head. There was no sign of the Swede.

Luther looked off deeper into the trees, trying to make sense of what they found. The Swede had to have gone after Vanya and Klaus if the car was abandoned here. But if Luther remembered correctly, the farmhouse was surrounded by open fields all around it. There was no easy way to sneak up without being spotted. 

But what if the Swede wanted to stake out the place first? If that was the case, then the forest would be a good place to do it while staying hidden, a place to wait until nightfall, when it would be safer to approach.

What if the Swede was still here, in the forest?

Riding on a hunch, Luther took a few steps deeper into the trees. Behind him, Diego was trying to pick the lock of the car.

“Guys, no one’s here,” Allison’s voice sounded. “We need to go, Klaus and Vanya might be in danger.”

Luther half-turned to respond, but paused as his gaze caught a flash of silver glinting out from behind a tree. The color of it was startling among the deep greens and browns of the darkening forest. His heart leapt to his throat.

“Hey!” Luther yelled out, running forward. 

He only made it two steps before he froze in place. A tall, silver haired man stepped out from behind the tree trunk, pointing a submachine gun at him.

“Whoa,” Luther raised his arms. “Look, we just want to talk.”

“Luther!” Allison’s voice rang out behind him.

The Swede’s gaze darted warily from Luther to his slowly approaching siblings. The man remained silent, however, and the fact of it seemed to make Diego and Allison bolder. 

“Look, put the gun down, buddy,” Luther said, taking a small step toward Diego and Allison as they inched closer, ready to dive in the way of bullets if necessary.

The Swede’s grip tightened on his gun.

“Look, we know you have Five, okay?” Luther said carefully. “We want to ta-”

“ _I heard a rumor-_ ”

Allison’s voice sounded, and Luther’s eyes widened as the Swede spun toward Allison and fired.

“No!” Diego’s voice rang out at the same time as the sound of gunfire split the air. 

Instinctively, Luther lunged toward Allison, his heart racing in terror because he _knew_. He knew that he was too far away to stop the bullets in time. 

Luther staggered forward two steps, then a third, and stopped in stunned disbelief.

Allison only stood there, staring ahead and frozen with shock. There was no burst of red, no darkening patch on her clothes. She was uninjured. 

_She was uninjured?_

Luther followed Allison’s wide-eyed gaze only to find that every bullet the Swede had fired was frozen in midair between the gun and Allison.

The Swede staggered back, eyes bulging as he stared at the suspended bullets.

Luther spun toward Diego, and found his brother with one hand outstretched toward the bullets, a look of intense focus, and something like surprise, on his face. Then, Diego slammed his hand downward, and the bullets pelted into the ground.

Diego curled his fingers into a fist, eyes wide. 

The Swedes’ shocked gaze shifted from the bullets to Diego, and then he looked down at his gun, seemingly at a loss.

“Holy shit,” Luther said, agape. He had never seen Diego do that before. Since when could he stop bullets?

“ _I heard a rumor_ that you gave us your weapons and won’t try to attack us.” Allison’s voice, with only the barest tremor, sounded.

The Swede, too distracted by Diego’s display to act against her in time, shuddered as his eyes flashed white. Then, he walked forward, eyes blank, and handed Allison his gun, as well as the knives hidden in his boot and up his sleeve. Allison took the gun and immediately turned it on the Swede, before holding the knives out toward Diego. 

“Back up now,” Allison said.

The Swede obliged.

“Stop.”

The Swede stopped, about fifteen feet away from the rest of them.

Diego walked over and took the knives from Allison, still looking vaguely shell shocked from what he’d done earlier.

“Thanks, Diego,” Allison said, her voice unsteady.

“Don’t mention it,” Diego replied.

For a moment, there was only the sound of rustling leaves, and a car zooming past on the road, music blaring.

“Okay, uh…” Luther tried to collect his scattered wits as he stared at the man in front of him. “Look, we… We just want to talk, okay? No one has to get hurt here.”

The Swede narrowed his eyes at him, and said nothing.

“So my name is Luther,” Luther said. “What’s yours?”

The Swede grit his teeth, and glanced at Allison’s gun, before he spoke. “Axel.”

“Okay, Axel,” Luther said. “It’s good to meet you.”

“Seriously?” Diego said.

“Diego, shut up,” Luther snapped. “Look, Axel, we just want to know… did you kidnap Five?”

An awkward silence stretched among them, until Luther abruptly realized that the Swede wasn’t going to speak unless they encouraged him somehow.

“Alright…” Luther sighed, before glancing at Allison. 

Allison caught his meaning, and sighed. “ _I heard a rumor_ that you will honestly answer every one of our questions to the best of your knowledge.” 

Axel grit his teeth, shuddering again as his Allison’s power took hold, and his eyes flashed white.

“Alright, I’ll start,” said Diego. “Why did you kill Elliot?”

Allison glared at him. “Seriously?”

Axel clenched his jaw, seemingly trying to resist the compulsion, before he spoke. “Revenge. For my brother.”

Diego threw Luther a look that screamed _I told you so_. 

“Did you kidnap Five?” Allison said, thrusting her gun forward.

The Swede frowned, and there was the barest twitch in his brow before he spoke again. “No.”

What? Disappointment rose inside of Luther. Allison’s power meant Axel had to be telling the truth. So was Diego right, then? Or Allison?

“Well, then do you know who did?” Allison said, frustration flickering across her face.

“No,” said Axel. “I only knew he was missing when he told me.” He glanced at Luther.

Allison let out a breath, then cursed. “Shit.”

“Alright, well why are you here, then?” said Diego. “What are you planning?”

“I followed you brother and sister,” Axel said stiffly, clearly hating every moment. “I plan to kill the woman who killed my brother.”

“Wait, Allison?” said Luther, looking between his sister and the Swede in alarm. 

Allison pursed her lips, her expression guarded.

“No,” Axel replied. “The woman who killed Oscar.“

That name meant nothing to them. “And that’s… not the one that Allison...”

The Swede glared at her, his hand clenching into fists. “No. She made me kill Otto.”

Diego turned to Allison, letting out a low whistle, impressed. “With your power? Holy shit, Allison. Remind me never to piss you off.”

“Bit too late for that.” Allison threw Diego a glare, though she looked faintly pained.

Luther’s eyes widened. Allison had just said she’d killed him, she’d said nothing about how it actually happened. The Allison he knew had always tried to avoid lethal rumors. Usually, the goons they’d fought as children ended up with injured limbs or concussions. She must have been truly desperate if that was what she’d came up with.

“So you… killed Elliot because of Otto?” said Luther, trying to make sense of everything Axel had told them.

Confusion flickered across Axel’s face. “No, Otto helped me kill your friend. The woman made us believe you killed Oscar. We found a knife.” 

A vaguely sheepish expression crossed Diego’s face, and he rested a hand on the holster that held the knife in question, looking faintly thoughtful. Luther decided to ask later what that might be about.

“I am sorry,” Axel added. He appeared almost guilty, despite his mostly expressionless face. 

“So when I killed your brother,” Allison said, “you… didn’t take Five as revenge?”

“No.” Axel said, crushing the last of Luther’s hopes.

“Then who the hell took Five?” Luther said, at a loss. He had been so convinced it was the Swedes. It would have been so much simpler if it had been the people they knew, instead of some new, mysterious enemy they hadn’t even known they were fighting. Maybe the Commission had sent new agents after all, or had there just been some sort of accident? Had Five gotten himself hit by a car? Like Vanya?

“Wait wait wait, go back,” Diego interrupted suddenly. “You said something about a woman killing your brother? Why?”

“I do not know.” The Swede shrugged. “But I know it is because of you. And I will find her, and kill her.”

“What does she look like?” Diego said. “Do you know who she is?”

“No,” Axel frowned. “But she spoke to us. Forties, black hair, pretty face. I recognized her scent. Lavender. She knew who we were, she knew Oscar had died. She told us about the television store, asked us not to hurt the little one with the 'cute socks'”

Luther blinked. Okay, _that_ was weird.

“Huh,” Diego said, looking thoughtful as he spun the Swede's knife in his hand. Luther had the vague sense that he’d just realized something. “Alright.”

“Who is it?” Allison said. “Do you know who he’s talking about?”

“I might have an idea.” Diego said, something dark in his eyes as he stared intently at the Swede.

Luther tensed, something was off about Diego. He could feel it.

“You know who killed my brother?” Axel said, an undercurrent of urgency in his voice.

“Maybe,” Diego said. “Do you have any idea who might have taken Number Five?”

“No.” Axel’s reply was succinct.

“Then I guess you’re no help to us then,” Diego said, baring his teeth as he tossed his knife in the air. “Now I can fucking kill you for what you did to Elliot.”

“Diego no!” Luther dived at Diego just as his brother launched himself at the Swede, wrapping his arms around Diego barely in time to stop him from throwing the knife. Could Diego just stay calm for once in his life? 

“Let me go!” Diego shouted, twisting and bucking in his arms. “This bastard tortured and killed Elliot for nothing!”

“You heard him! They were tricked by the woman!” Luther shouted. “It’s not his fault!”

“You saw his corpse, Luther! They fucking tortured him!” Diego said. “He didn’t deserve to die like that!”

The Swede clenched his jaw, and turned his gaze on Allison. “Your sister forced me to kill my own brother.”

Allison frowned.

“Öga for öga.” The Swede continued. “We killed your friend, you killed my brother. We are even.”

“What?” Diego yelled, still wriggling in Luther’s arms. “No! That was self-defence! You assholes tried to kill her! Elliot never did anything to you freaks! This isn’t some sort of fucking game!”

The Swede tensed, and took a step back. 

“Killing him won’t bring Elliot back, Diego,” said Luther, tightening his hold around his brother.

“But it’ll make me feel better,” said Diego through gritted teeth. He uselessly tried to free himself a few more times, before he finally sagged in Luther’s arms.

“Look. There has to be a better way,” said Allison with a sigh. “He wants this woman dead, right? Who is she, Diego? Maybe we can help each other.”

“He still _works_ for the Commission, and the Commission wants all of us dead, remember?” said Diego. “We can’t trust him.”

Axel stared at all of them warily, and said nothing.

“I mean, I could use my power…?” Allison offered.

“Yeah and what happens if it wears off, huh?” said Diego. “That shit isn’t permanent. Luther, put me down.”

“Are you going to stay civil?” Luther said.

There was a long pause.

“Yes,” Diego said, in a tone that said no.

“I can do this for as long as I need to, Diego,” Luther said.

Allison sighed, then gestured at the Swede with the gun. “So what do we do with him, then?”

“We kill him,” said Diego.

“No!” “No!” Allison and Luther shouted in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chap - Ben harasses Lila, the siblings arrive at the farm, Five meets his captors.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A million thanks again to each person who commented! It's always so reassuring hearing that people are still reading and enjoying the fic. Your feedback is keeping me sustained.
> 
> Unbetaed as per usual. I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

“So what exactly is your deal?” yelled Ben, trying to be heard over the blaring rock music.

Beside him in the driver’s seat, Lila’s eyes flickered between him and the road.

“Uh, I’m not really interested in chatting,” Lila said, speaking at a normal volume that Ben had to strain to hear.

“Look, I saw what you did to Vanya,” Ben shouted. “So do you copy powers, or-?”

Lila gave him the side eye. “Do you always talk this much?”

“There’s not really much else to do when you’re dead,” Ben screamed. 

The yelling was bringing a weird sense of relief. Usually Ben did all his screaming on the inside, but this was starting to change his mind. All it had taken was another of Klaus’ impulsive, poorly-thought-out decisions for everything to go from bad to worse. If Ben hadn’t become so used to a permanent sense of frustration from over sixteen years as a helpless phantom, he imagined he might be screaming, loudly, indefinitely, right this very second. 

Lila shrugged, making a face that looked vaguely like agreement. “I guess I can give you that.”

“If it helps, I haven’t really been able to talk to anyone but Klaus until lately,” Ben yelled. “So this is about as weird for me as it is for you.”

Ben had hopped into the car when Lila had moved to drive off with Klaus, while the Handler stayed behind at the farmhouse with Vanya, Sissy, and Harlan - her new hostages. The mother and child hadn’t been hard for Lila to find and subdue once the Handler started loudly threatening Vanya’s life, especially after Harlan started wailing in fear. 

In the car, Lila had turned on some sort of pocket sized FM broadcaster, before fiddling with the dials of the car radio until she found her own station. The moment Ben tried to speak, his voice was drowned out by music that was at least a decade away from first being made. The car speakers, however, were struggling to translate all the different layers of sound. It was a very weird experience. 

Lila mumbled something.

“What was that?” Ben shouted. It was getting dark, and he could barely see Lila’s face to try and read her lips. Something about convulsions?

Lila rolled her eyes, then reached over and turned the music down to a level below deafening. “My condolences.”

_Oh_. That made more sense. Suddenly, Ben felt a bit fragile. He’d never really been able to talk to anyone about being Klaus’ personal ghost before.

“It’s been a very long sixteen years,” Ben said, as his mind played back a greatest hits reel of all the worst moments he wished he had never been there for. The half dozen times he’d had to watch Klaus die was among them, alongside all the compromising situations he’d had no warning for. Why was Klaus so allergic to clothes?

“So why don’t you just, leave or something?” Lila said. “You’re not like, tethered to him or anything, are you?”

“You know, I ask myself the same thing, sometimes? He can be so-” Ben sighed. How to even begin describing Klaus? “But he’s my brother. And he doesn’t really have anyone besides me.”

“Sounds like an unhealthy codependent relationship if you ask me,” said Lila.

Ben hadn’t asked. “Oh what, you’re a psychology expert now?”

“I spent like three months undercover in a mental institution,” Lila said. “You pick things up, you know? Do you have any idea how many group therapy sessions I’ve had to sit through?”

“It’s not like I have a choice in any of this, alright?” said Ben. “He’s the only person who can see me.”

“Only _living_ person, maybe,” said Lila. “What’s stopping you from making friends with some fellow ghosts? You could go fall in love with some 19th century socialite who died of consumption or something.”

“It’s not that simple, alright?” Ben sighed. Half the time the ghosts were cruel, vengeful, or straight up insane from years, decades, even centuries of lonely existence. Few of them were ever interested in having an actual conversation. It was like anyone even remotely well-adjusted had gone through the light the moment they had the opportunity. Unlike Ben, who’d gotten himself stuck with a brother he sometimes didn’t even like, possibly for eternity.

“Whatever you say, spooky boy,” said Lila.

There was a moment of silence, and Ben did his best not to sulk during it. It was strange, having someone else to talk to besides Klaus. He was so used to being dismissed and ignored, it was a little hard to cope with suddenly being heard again.

“So, your powers.” Ben decided to go back to the topic he was interested in before his thoughts went down some dark depressive spiral. “You’re one of us, right?”

“Us isn’t the word I’d use,” Lila replied. “But... I think you already know the answer to that question.”

“I knew it!” Ben exclaimed, bouncing in his seat. “It just makes sense that there were more than seven of us. Dad couldn’t have been able to adopt every superpowered child.”

Lila shook her head and sighed, completely unmoved by his excitement.

“So how did you end up with the Handler?” Ben asked.

“What?”

“I mean, she’s not your real mother, is she?” said Ben. “You two don’t exactly look alike.”

“Hah,” Lila said. “No, you’re not getting my backstory that easily.”

“So there _is_ a story there?”

Reginald had only wanted to turn them into soldiers and weapons, they had been nothing more than scientific curiosities to his father. What exactly was Lila’s relationship with her mother like? Ben almost wanted to hope it might be something more loving and normal, despite all the signs otherwise. Loving parents didn’t usually point their children at enemies like weapons, did they?

“Shouldn’t you be like, trying to fight me or something for attacking your siblings?” Lila said, in a transparent attempt to change the subject.

“What am I going to do exactly? I’m a ghost.” Ben said, unable to resist answering. It’s not like he could really do much in his current state except be annoying. “Besides, you’re holding both Klaus and Vanya hostage, that’s a little bit discouraging.” 

As it was, Ben felt bad for the fact that Klaus was currently stuffed in the trunk of their car, hands cuffed and unconscious, but it was more of a clinical, distant feeling of ‘that’s really unfortunate for him’. Being stuck with Klaus meant walking a very fine line between investment and indifference. It was his sanity’s best survival tactic across the seemingly endless years tied to an (ex-) junkie committed to digging himself to new rock bottoms. Ben cared, he tried to help when he could. But at the end of the day, he knew he wasn't responsible for Klaus’ mistakes, no matter how miserable Klaus made them both as a result.

“I mean, I’ve never been a ghost, exactly?” said Lila. “But you could be a bit more creative.”

“You are welcome to manifest me if you like,” Ben said. He smiled innocently.

“No, I don’t think so,” Lila said, with a forced smile and a very self-aware look about her. “I think you’re doing pretty alright as a ghost.”

The thing was, Ben’s had learnt a great deal about being as annoying as humanly possible thanks to over a decade being bound to Klaus. Though usually, he wasn’t the one doing the attention seeking, Lila had no idea what Ben was truly capable of.

“So, where are we going?” said Ben. There had been a lot of whispering between Lila and the Handler, since Ben had made his concern over Klaus and Vanya no secret, after they’d both gone down.

“Why ruin the surprise?” said Lila. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Reading Lila’s hesitation, Ben fell silent, and looked out into the darkening countryside. This wasn’t a battle he really needed to win. It wasn’t so hard to figure out what was happening here. After Klaus had ratted his family out, Lila was probably on her way to track down Diego and the others. Five and Diego were the two people Lila had cared enough to ask about, after all. And Ben was willing to bet that Lila and the Handler wanted Five for one reason or another as well. Even back in 2019, Five and his whereabouts was all that Hazel and Cha-Cha had cared about. It seemed like little had changed since then. 

It also meant that neither Lila nor the Handler actually cared about Klaus. If the Commission had been willing to tolerate Klaus spending three years as a cult leader in the 60s then it was pretty unlikely he was suddenly a person of interest now. Klaus’ greatest misfortune was the fact that Five cared about him. And similarly, Vanya was also going to be fine as long as the Handler could use her to threaten Five, and perhaps the others. 

Ben had to help Klaus. He had to get them away from Lila.

  
  


-

  
  


In the end, after spending far too long trying to come to a compromise, Diego and his siblings came to an agreement that involved knocking out the Swede, tying him up, and leaving him inside his own truck. Allison’s power wasn’t a foolproof way of influencing a person and there was no way they could let Axel go free. So Diego was satisfied with making sure the Commission would have one less agent in the game for the foreseeable future. 

Once the Swede had been dealt with, the three of them drove the rest of the way to the farm, and Diego gave his siblings the abridged version of the current Commission political situation. They only had a faint idea of what they might be walking into. Axel, upon further interrogation, had mentioned spotting two women who Diego was almost certain were Lila and the Handler walking around. As much as Diego hoped for the best case scenario - finding Vanya and Klaus unharmed with the kid and the mother, he knew it was unlikely to be the case. And as for the worst case scenario… Well, Diego had his knives with him. They had Luther’s might and Allison’s persuasion, not to mention the Swede’s gun. The three of them had faced their share of criminals with only each other and Klaus before the Academy broke up. They could take whatever the Commission had to throw at them, especially with the cool new stunt Diego could pull off with his power.

Before long, they were driving the driveway, the car’s tires crunching in the snow. 

One by one, Diego and his siblings climbed out into the chill air, car doors slamming shut behind them. It was eerily quiet, with no sound except for the whistling wind and rustling grass. There was a sludge of mud and melting snow at their feet, with the barn as the centre. But aside from that, the place looked almost abandoned, but for the light shining from the house. 

No one was there to greet, or threaten them.

Strangely enough, there was only one car on the driveway, which looked like it belonged to the family. Diego frowned as he looked around, wondering what had happened to the car Vanya had taken. 

“I’ll take the lead here, alright?” said Diego, turning toward his siblings as they gathered and slowly approached the house. “If it’s the Handler, then let me do the talking. I’ve dealt with her and the Commission before, I know how to handle them.”

Luther nodded grimly, and Allison gave them a small wave as she darted off to sneak in through the back. They had pulled together something like a plan, mostly involving Allison and the element of surprise. But someone still had to confront the situation head on and act as a distraction. In this case, that distraction was Luther and Diego.

Pulling a knife from his belt, Diego made his way up the porch steps, Luther just a few steps behind. 

Then, at the front of the door, Diego took a deep breath, reading himself, and knocked.

A response came almost immediately as the merry voice of none other than the Handler herself called out from within. “Come in!”

Diego exchanged a glance with Luther, before he opened the door, and walked inside.

Inside the house, the Handler was seated primly at the head of the dining table, facing the door with a glass of red wine in front of her. She smiled at them coldly as Diego looked around the room. 

His heart leapt when he saw Vanya lying stretched across the couch, hands cuffed and unconscious.

“Ah, Diego, I was hoping I might see you again.” said the Handler, a smug look on her face as she picked up her glass of wine. “I must say, you have truly _exceeded my expectations_ with the speed of your betrayal. But... congratulations on stopping the apocalypse. That’s really quite an achievement for your family, especially considering your history with these things.”

The Handler took a sip of her wine, making a show of her amusement. 

Diego’s hand tightened around his knife. The Handler might be good at faking charm and poise most of the time, but Diego could tell she was just like Reginald - nothing but a cold, manipulative psychopath - deep down inside.

“What have you done with Vanya?” Diego spat, stepping forward. He had no interest in playing her mind games.

“What, no introductions?” The Handler painted on an expression of disappointment as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “That’s not very polite of you, Diego.”

Diego narrowed his eyes. “You already know who we are.”

“Well, I suppose you’re not wrong,” the Handler said, her lips pulling back in a smile. “But it’s still nice to finally meet you.” 

The Handler turned her gaze on Luther, and raised her glass.

“Uh,” Luther said, stiffening. Something uncertain flickered over his face. “It’s nice to meet you too? Ma’am.”

It physically hurt Diego to not roll his eyes. His brother was such a damn goody-two-shoes.

The Handler’s smile was distinctly patronizing as she idly swirled the wine in her glass. “You know, your family has caused me no end of trouble ever since Number Five first jumped to 2019. I admit, I often wonder what exactly it is that Five sees in your little… motley crew.”

The Handler gestured at Diego and Luther as she spoke, in a dismissive little wave that grated at Diego’s nerves. But she was talking, and that was what they needed her to do. They had to keep her distracted so Allison could have a chance.

“We’re _family_ ,” Diego said. “For most people, that _means_ something important.”

The Handler scoffed. “Oh, _please_ , don’t be asinine. You’re little more than a bunch of maladjusted former child soldiers, pretending at a connection. You could call yourself a family as much as you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that all Five is chasing is a _fantasy_. A silly little dream he constructed for himself during all his _lonely_ years in the apocalypse.”

Diego frowned, unsettled. Diego didn't agree with her, but there were fragments of truth in the Handler’s words. Though Diego couldn’t speak for whatever it was Five was fighting for, he couldn’t deny that up until Reginald’s death in 2019, all of them had been living completely separate lives. The Umbrella Academy had only been a family until they had the power to be free of each other. And even now, all of them had been brought back together not so much by _choice_ as by necessity.

Would they stay together as a family after they went back to 2019? Diego didn’t know. That sort of thing was for later.

”You know, all this time, I’ve been trying to save him the heartbreak?” Something bitter twisted the Handler’s expression. “The reality of this _family_ he’s chasing is never going to live up to what he imagined. That debt he thinks he owes?” The Handler raised an eyebrow, then shrugged, morose. “It’s never going to be paid.”

“Debt?” Diego said, brows furrowing. The Handler truly was obsessed with Five. “What are you talking about?”

There was movement out of the corner of Diego’s eye, and he glanced down the hallway to find Allison slipping out of a room in the back. Diego looked away before his distraction could be noticed by the Handler.

The Handler hummed, her gaze turning considering. “I guess he really hasn’t told you any of it, has he?”

“Told us _what_?” Luther spoke up.

Diego kept his eyes on the Handler as Allison crept down the hallway toward them.

The Handler’s smile turned devious. “You should really hear him _beg_ , someday.”

Diego’s blood abruptly ran cold. The arrogant, aggressive Five? Begging? That was wrong on a level he couldn’t even begin to articulate.

“ _What about my family? I want them to survive!”_ The Handler sing-songed. “He was ready to write off the rest of the world if it meant I could keep all of you alive.”

Diego’s instincts told him that the Handler had to be lying to them somehow. Even though it made no sense for her to lie about something like this. Had what she said really happened? Had Five begged her for their lives? Diego had known that Five would go to almost any length to prevent the apocalypse, but… for them? For his family?

Around the corner behind the Handler, Allison was pressed against the wall with the Swede’s gun in her hands. Diego met Allison’s determined gaze, and turned his attention back to the Handler, ready to go in the moment Allison moved.

The Handler seemed almost sad as she examined the wine in the glass, and took a sip.

“You know, I used to have such hopes for him. For someone with so much skill and talent, to be held back by… well,” the Handler looked Diego and Luther up and down. “It’s honestly quite sad. All those things we could have accomplished...”

The Handler’s words faded into silence, just as Allison leapt out from her hiding place, gun raised. 

_“I heard a rumor_ that-”

“Uh-uh,” the Handler said, pulling a small Beretta from under the table to point it at Allison. 

Diego almost reached out with his power before he realized that the gun hadn’t fired. Shit, he really didn’t want to test the bullet stopping thing again this soon.

“Have you forgotten your brother Klaus so quickly?” the Handler said with a curious tilt of her head.

Allison froze, her weapon drooping as she glanced down at the gun in the Handler’s hand. “What have you done with him?”

“He’s off on a little trip with my daughter at the moment,” the Handler smiled condescendingly. “And lets just say if anything happens to me, then, well, I can’t be held accountable for whatever happens to him.”

Allison’s eyes widened.

_Shit shit shit shit._ A string of curses rang out in Diego’s head as he stared at the Handler. That was why the car was missing. How the hell had they missed it?

“Now, how about you drop the gun and go stand over there with your brothers?” the Handler said. “Another word out of you and I won’t hesitate to pull this trigger. I’m sure your ghost brother would appreciate some new company.”

Allison grit her teeth, her gaze shifting toward Diego and Luther, before she looked over at Vanya.

On the couch, their sister still lay unmoving, by all appearances completely dead to the world. Only the rise and fall of her chest showed she was still alive. Klaus had come here with her, and he was nowhere to be seen. Even if they could successfully subdue the Handler with no one getting shot, they still had no idea what type of arrangement she had made with Lila. The influence of Allison’s powers might not be enough to guarantee their brother’s safety.

Then, there was the fact that Five was still missing, and the very real possibility that the Commission had taken him for their own purposes. The three of them were at a disadvantage here, and they needed information only the Handler had to give.

With a sigh, Allison dropped her gun to the ground, and then stiffly walked to stand beside Diego. 

“Alright,” Luther said, squaring his shoulders as he stared down at the Handler. “What do you want? What are you planning?”

Diego turned to Luther with an angry glare, what happened to him taking the lead?

“I want a lot of things, dear,” the Handler said. “But for a start, I would be made very happy if you would find your brother Five and bring him here for a chat.”

Wait, what?

“How do we know you don’t already have him?” said Diego. “For all we know, one of your agents already kidnapped him.”

The Handler sighed, derision settling across her features. “You’re really not very bright, are you? If I already had Number Five, then trust me, I would be asking for something much more interesting than this.”

Diego didn’t trust this.

“Look, all I want is a chance to talk to him, face-to-face," the Handler continued.

“That’s it?” said Luther. “About what, exactly?”

“Well, usually I’d say that’s none of your business, but considering I’m asking for your cooperation, I am willing to tell you,” said the Handler. “You see, now that I am in power, the apocalypse isn’t something that needs to happen anymore. The world’s not going to end, and your little family will all be safe. Now that he’s achieved his little dream, I was _hoping_ he might be persuaded to return to work for us again. His skillset is rather... special, after all.”

Did the Handler really think they were going to believe that? “And you think kidnapping Klaus and Vanya is going to get him to agree to join you?”

“No, I don’t imagine he’d be a fan,” the Handler said. “But the issue of _trust_ would be my problem to deal with. At the end of the day. Maybe he’d be willing to make a new deal to get all of you back to 2019. All of you _would_ like to go home, wouldn’t you?”

That gave them pause.

It was true, all of them were stuck here in the 60s, and Five was reluctant to use his powers after everything that had gone wrong before. The Swede hadn’t had a briefcase with him, and had said something about being a local agent, bound to a specific period in time.

“Wait, what do you mean, a _new_ deal?” said Luther.

“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” The Handler said. “Well, _I_ won’t rat out his secrets, why don’t you ask him yourself when you find him? I’m sure it’d be a fun conversation for all of you.”

More secrets, Diego sighed internally. Of _fucking_ course. He was sure this was going to be good.

“But we have no idea where he is,” Luther said. “What if we can’t find him?”

“Yeah, he can _time travel_ ,” said Diego. “What if he jumped into some other time and abandoned us here?”

“Oh, after everything he’s done for you?” the Handler almost looked amused. “Five could _never_ leave all of you behind. His obsession with saving you is why we’re all here, after all. Finding him is your problem. I know he’s somewhere in this time. And look, if by some accident he’s dead, then just bring me his body, and I’ll let you and your siblings go. The rest of you don’t interest me, after all.”

Diego looked at Luther, and Allison, reading the hesitation in their eyes. They couldn’t trust the Handler. But Klaus was her hostage, and by the looks of things, Sissy and Harlan too. Right in this moment, they didn’t exactly have a choice.

“Fine,” Diego said. “We’ll help you.”

Luther sighed, crossing his arms. Allison visibly ground her teeth together.

“Well, isn’t that just lovely?” said the Handler, smiling widely in what looked like genuine pleasure this time. She lowered her gun, putting it down on the table in front of her, though her hand was still pressed over it. “I’m so glad we could come to an agreement.”

“We bring Five here, and you let everyone go,” Diego said. “Vanya, Klaus, Sissy and the kid - Harlan.”

“Of course!” the Handler smiled sweetly, her eyes crinkling. “A deal is a deal.”

For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence. Diego stared at the Handler, hating all of this, the manipulation, her smug condescension, the fact that their only choice was to say yes. 

Luther was the first to break the stalemate, and he started for the door, pulling it open and walking out into the night. Then, Allison turned and followed Luther out the door.

Diego watched the Handler a moment longer, before he too, turned to leave.

“Oh, by the way?” the Handler’s voice rang out just as Diego reached the door. “You have twenty-four hours. Any longer and I’m going to have to rethink this arrangement.”

Grinding his teeth, Diego slammed the door shut on his way out.

As he came down the steps, both Luther and Allison were waiting for him. High on his anger, Diego swept past his siblings and made straight for the car. The others began to follow him.

“Well that was…” Luther said.

Allison muttered something under her breath, probably regretting ever splitting up with Klaus and Vanya.

How the hell had things gotten this messed up so fast? Both Klaus and Vanya were in danger. Five was missing in action, and everything was riding on them finding him and bringing him to the Handler, who, if Diego had to guess, was probably planning to kill them at the end of it all.

None of them had any idea where Five might be, if he was even still alive.

As he stared at the car, thoughts swirling, Diego’s frustration boiled over. 

“Fuck!” he yelled, kicking at the tires, again, then again.

Allison watched him, and sighed. “I hope Klaus is okay.”

“I actually feel sort of bad for Lila,” Luther said. “Klaus is going to drive her nuts.”

Diego sighed, his anger still simmered just beneath the surface. But now, it was a more manageable kind of rage. He went to open the driver’s door.

“Then let’s find Five before she kills him,” Diego said, climbing in.

The others ran forward to get into the car.

  
  


-

  
  


“How are we supposed to ask him anything if he’s not waking up? I told you not to dose him again.”

Sounds filtered through his consciousness first.

“Walt, would you calm down? I didn’t want him waking up while we were sleeping!”

“Yeah, well, great job with that, Billy! You succeeded and you nearly killed him! I told you I’d stay up and keep watch!”

Bit by bit, his senses returned. There was light, and shifting shadows.

“Well I wanted to go to bed! And we agreed we’d talk to him together!”

“I could have just woken you!”

“That defeats the whole purpose of going to _sleep_!”

The shouting around him was doing nothing to help the pounding headache behind Five’s eyes, and he bit back a groan as he slowly stirred back to wakefulness. His neck was killing him, and Five distantly realized that he was upright, slumped against some sort of chair. He shifted in discomfort only to find his wrists and ankles were tied to something. 

_What the hell happened?_ Everything was hard - to move, to concentrate. He could barely think through the pain in his head. 

“Oh! Oh shit, I think he’s waking up again.”

Five opened his eyes, and looked up to find himself staring at the two blurry blobs that were his captors.

Five blinked, and slowly, everything came into focus.

If someone had asked Five who would be capable of imprisoning him, Five would never have bet on two nerdy middle-aged men who made Elliot look like the height of refinement. The two were soft featured and chubbily built, and looked alike enough to be brothers. They also looked like they hadn’t showered in a week, with greasy, balding hair and food-stained clothes. One was wearing a pair of thick rimmed glasses while the other had a thin circle of a beard that looked almost drawn on. 

They stood together beneath an open archway, and both were gaping at Five with matching looks of stunned amazement.

Five’s addled mind struggled to make sense of the situation he was in. They weren’t his siblings. And didn’t exactly look like Commission. Who the hell were these two freaks? 

“Do you think he’s going to stay awake this time?” said the one with the glasses.

“How am I supposed to know?” Circle Beard glared at Glasses.

“He has to be coming off of it by now, right? You didn’t give him anymore?”

Only half-listening to the bickering of his captors, Five instinctively tugged at his powers only to find it refusing to bend to his will. There wasn't even so much as a ripple in the air around him. It was too hard to focus his thoughts, and there was a deep current of exhaustion running inside of him reminiscent of all the times he’d pushed himself too far. Five realized, with growing dread, that whatever his captors had drugged him with was suppressing his powers. 

He couldn’t get out.

The two men began to approach him slowly, staring curiously at Five like he was a specimen to be dissected.

Fighting the urge to curse, Five glanced around, and found he was tied up in what looked like the kitchen of a suburban house. It seemed to be night time. The room was lit up with electric lights, and there were heavy curtains pulled over the window. Everything was covered by a faint layer of dust.

The decor reminded him of when he was. 1963. November 21st. Or was it the 22nd now? Hadn’t his captors said something about going to sleep? Five recalled being handed the briefcase, the deadline, driving to find Vanya. Then what?

Five wracked his mind, but it was impossible to remember.

All clues pointed to some sort of drugging and kidnapping. His neck was still stinging with pain. 

Tranquilizer?

Five hated to think he was losing his edge. Maybe two weeks with barely any food and rest had gotten to him more than he realized.

Then, Five focused his attention back on his captors, only to find Glasses was now uncomfortably close, bright eyed as he bent over him. Five was hit in the face with the sour stench of sweat and bad breath.

“Who the hell are you guys?” Five said with a grimace, tried to pull back as far as he could. His words were only half slurred. So the drugs were still wearing off. He could deal with that.

“Holy shit!” Glasses reeled back, turning toward the other man with a look of excitement. “Billy, he’s talking!”

Circle Beard - Billy - glanced toward Glasses, but didn’t respond, looking at a loss now that Five was conscious. Glasses, meanwhile, was staring at Five with shining eyes, like he’d just walked into Santa on Christmas Eve.

_What the actual fuck is this_? Five’s brain was slowly whirring into gear, and the two men’s reactions to him since waking up was suggesting a possibility to Five that he really didn’t enjoy entertaining.

“Alright, so you’re Billy,” Five said, glancing at the man in question, before turning to Glasses. “What about you?”

Billy’s face twisted in alarm then anger, and he opened his mouth to stop his friend from speaking. But it was too late.

“Oh, uh,” Glasses said, blinking in surprise. “My name’s Walter, but most people call me Walt.”

“Don’t-” Billy stepped forward and slapped Walt on the arm. “Don’t tell it our names!”

“What? You never said we couldn’t do that!” Walt said, an expression of hurt on his face.

Five stared at the pair, unable to believe he’d gone and gotten himself captured by two complete amateurs. This was genuinely humiliating. His family was never going to let him hear the end of this if they found out. 

“It’s basic common sense!” said Billy. “Christ, let me do the interrogation.”

Billy stepped forward as Walt awkwardly shuffled back. Then, Billy proceeded to glare ineffectively at Five. 

Five was sure the man was furious for some reason or another, he was just having trouble feeling intimidated by the full circus act playing out in front of him.

He waited for the man to say something, but all he did was glare.

“Do you have something to say, or-?” Five remarked.

“Hmph,” Billy said, as he did his best to burn holes through Five with his eyes alone. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

_What does he-_

“Okay.” said Five, plastering on the politest smile he could manage given the circumstances. “Billy, Walt, as _lovely_ as it is to meet the both of you. I have no way of knowing why I’m here, unless you _tell_ me. So what the _hell_ do you want?”

Indignation flashed across Billy’s face.

“We want you to _pay_ for what you did.” Billy said, spitting out the words. 

Then, almost like an afterthought, he looked down, pulled back his arm, and punched Five.

Five had a bit of experience when it came to being punched. From his years of training in the Academy to his years as an assassin - he had taken more than just a few fists to the face. On the scale of punches, this one fell somewhere around a three or a four. Solid contact, though the strength was so-so, but Five couldn’t exactly dodge, what with being strapped to the chair, so the pain that exploded across his face was somewhere around a medium

It was just that his attacker’s reaction really ruined the overall experience.

“Ow!” Billy whined, and then started shaking his hand as he stumbled back. “Shit, that hurts like a bitch.”

That reaction hurt Five a lot more than the punch did. 

“Can you guys be at least a little bit professional?” Five said, rapidly reaching the end of his patience. “This is humiliating.”

Billy began sputtering in rage, and then muttered something about showing Five what was professional before he disappeared into another room, leaving Five with Walt.

For a second, they stared at each other, both equally speechless in the face of the situation.

“So what did I do, exactly?” Five said, breaking the silence. He was starting to hope this might just be a particularly grotesque dream, born out of his seemingly permanent feelings of anger and frustration in the face of a second impending apocalypse.

“Well, you-”

There was a loud crash from the other room, and they both turned toward the sound.

“Billy, you alright?” said Walt, eyes worried as he scurried over and poked his head out the archway.

“I’m _fine_!” came Billy’s venomous response.

For a moment, Walt hovered in the archway, looking uncertain, before he turned back toward Five with an almost eager expression on his face.

“Alright, look.” Walt approached Five in a few brisk strides. 

There was the growing sound of someone stomping up to the kitchen. Five darted his gaze toward the archway, and then back to Walt.

“I just want to ask,” Walt leaned in with eager eyes, “which pl-”

“How’s this for professional?” Billy yelled, sweeping back into the room with a baseball bat raised over his hand.

Walt whirled around , his eyes widening with shock as he caught sight of the weapon. “Wait, Billy, isn’t that a bit-”

Five tiredly regarded the waving bat, and didn’t reply. It was _better_ , certainly, but he still had enough of a self-preservation instinct to not say it aloud.

“You think you could kill one of us and get away with it?” Billy spat at Five as he closed in on him, bat poised to strike.

Five frowned, having more than a little bit of trouble understanding just what exactly was going on. 

“Would you... care to be a bit more specific?” Five said. He had killed a _lot_ of people in his time. And at the moment it was a little bit difficult for him to try and remember which one of his victims might be related to Dumb and Dumber in front of him.

Billy’s face contorted with rage, his eyes bulging.

“He doesn’t even know who he killed?” Walt exclaimed, a look of hurt and anger falling over his face.

“You fucker! You people murdered Elliot!” Billy screamed, shaking his bat.

Five remembered, then, Elliot’s wide, sightless eyes, his drooping face, the rebar stabbed through his head. 

_Oh_.

This was about Elliot.

_What_?

_Shit_.

“Wait,” Five fought the urge to groan. “You two think _I_ killed Elliot?”

There was a lesson here, Five thought faintly, about reaping what he sowed. 

Of course Elliot had found friends among fellow conspiracy theorists. Of course someone else could have discovered the body before them. Five had never sworn Elliot to secrecy. Why hadn’t he sworn him to secrecy? 

“Yeah! We know you did it!” yelled Billy, his eyes growing shiny with tears. “You murdered him! You and your fellow aliens!”

Five started wishing he had been kidnapped by the Commission instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit it's been fun seeing everyone's theories about the kidnappers, I hope the answer doesn't disappoint? I admit I always felt a bit saddened by how Elliot was so gruesomely murdered and then was just dismissed by the story. So... here are the 'original characters' mentioned in the tags. :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm alive! I haven't forgotten the fic! A thousand thanks to every one of you who commented. I'm so glad that people are enjoying this weird tale I've spun, you guys have been so lovely and encouraging it helped to remind me again and again to keep writing. I really have no excuse for how long this took aside from the fact that I made the mistake of starting an MMO and it has consumed almost all of my waking hours during the past two weeks. So uh, future updates might be a bit on the slow side, at least in comparison to the four chapters I churned out in a week at the start of the fic.
> 
> Again, unbetaed and apologies for any errors that I may have missed.
> 
> Also, what even are uniform chapter lengths? I sure don't know anymore, they're however long they need to be.

It had been a _very long_ two weeks. Each day part of a continuous living nightmare that Five still wasn’t sure if he was ever going to wake up from. He wondered, faintly, if this wasn’t going to be his new normal now. The world on the brink of an apocalypse, everyone’s lives hanging in the balance. And here he was, stuck staring at a pair of misguided idiots instead of doing anything about it. 

How had he gotten here? How had it come to this? How was this the running theme of his life now?

“You don’t know _anything_ ,” Five said, frustration swirling just below the surface of his exhaustion. “I didn’t _kill_ Elliot. None of us did.”

Confusion briefly flickered across Billy’s face, before settling into disbelief.

“Don’t fucking lie to me!” Billy yelled, the bat in his hand waving slightly as he half-lunged toward Five. “No one else could have done it! If you didn’t then who did? Who would hurt Elliot?”

Five glanced warily at the baseball bat, and tried, through the drugged haze in his mind, to figure out the right thing to say. There had to be a way to convince the two to let him go. He could think of a few ways to play this, but there was no easy way to tell what the two in front of him would believe. Yet if anyone might believe the truth it was these two.

“Maybe the government caught onto the fact he was helping us,” Five lied through gritted teeth, forcing a smile. “Or... maybe it was the time-travelling assassins who have been trying to kill us this whole time.”

Billy immediately chortled. “Please, _time travel?_ Do you think we’re idiots?”

“What, you believe in aliens, but time travel is where you draw the line?” Five’s eyes narrowed in disbelief.

“Yeah!” said Billy, his bat drooping as he grew distracted by the conversation. “Because statistically speaking, aliens are actually plausible!”

Behind Billy, Walt’s eyes were wide as saucers as he stared between Billy and Five.

Five swallowed a sigh, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. They weren’t entirely wrong. He remembered the conversation he’d overheard in the consulate, references to Roswell with connotations more serious than Five really wanted to think about. That had been a whole can of worms he’d never breached with Reginald.

Five absently pulled at his powers again, and grit his teeth when there wasn’t so much a ripple in the air around him. He wanted nothing more than to teleport out of this situation and be done with this farce. But it was just his luck these two idiots had somehow found the right drug to suppress his powers. It was a miracle they hadn’t accidentally killed him.

So Five had to try and reason with them.

“If there’s no such thing as time travel,” Five said, with a patience he didn’t feel, “then how did we know about the Kennedy assassination?” 

“Hah, good try, but we know you planned it!” Billy said. “I saw all of your alien friends on TV, they were the ones who killed the president!” 

“What?” Five frowned. What did Billy mean that the others were _on TV_? So the president had still been assassinated? “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, King Kong? Klaus? Allison Chestnut, and what was that last one, that Cuban one?” said Billy, turning toward Walt. 

His bat was now pointed down at the ground, which Five took as a small victory. 

“Oh, uh, Dago or something?” said Walt. He looked uncertain, and almost torn, seeming not to know what to make of Five’s words.

“Diego,” Five murmured. He left his siblings alone for _one day_ and they went and became wanted for the presidential assassination? What the hell had his siblings been doing? This was going to butterfly in catastrophic ways, he could already see it. Five had to get out of here and find the others, he had to get them all out of the timeline before the apocalypse caught up with all of them. 

“What else did the news say about them?” Five asked.

Walt frowned at Five. “Wait, you really don’t know?” 

Billy was looking more and more annoyed with each passing second, and the suspicion in his eyes hadn’t yet gone away.

“No, Walt, I don’t,” Five said, pulling half-heartedly at his restraints. “Because I have been here, in your kitchen, this _entire time_.”

Billy and Walt exchanged a look. 

“The news said they killed FBI agents in the federal building?” Walt said hesitantly. “They say that you’re all terrorists.”

FBI? What the hell? Just how much had Five managed to miss?

“That’s a bunch of bullshit,” Five said, starting to lose his composure. “You can’t trust what you hear on television, okay? They’re lying to you. My family has been trying to _stop_ the presidential assassination, as well as the apocalypse in two days. ”

Uncertainty fell across Walt’s face, and he seemed thoughtful as he stared at Five.

“Look, I don’t trust what the television says,” Billy said, “but I don’t trust anything you say either, okay?”

“Listen to me, you _imbecile_ ,” Five snapped. “None of us have time for this, okay? I know you think that you’re avenging Elliot or saving the world or something but listen to me. _We didn’t kill him._ You got the wrong guy. And you need to let me go because there are more important things right now that I need to be doing. The world is going to end in _two days_. Do you understand? And I need to stop it.”

As he spoke, Five was struck by the sensation of deja-vu. He had done this too many times before, begging people to sort out their damned priorities in the face of impending disaster. 

Both Billy and Walt stared at him. Walt was agape, and Billy’s eyes were wide with anger, offended by Five’s words.

“I’m sorry Elliot is dead, okay? I truly am,” said Five, sincerity bleeding into his voice. “I never meant for that to happen to him. He was a good man. But saving the world is a dangerous gig, and I don’t take his sacrifice lightly. But listen, there is an _apocalypse_ coming, and if the two of you don’t _let me go_ , then all of us are going to die.”

Silence fell, and Five stared at Billy and Walt, willing them to see sense. They were just a pair of stupid, grieving idiots with no idea what they were doing. But Five hoped, he _hoped,_ that they would be reasonable.

“Yeah, good try, you alien freak” Billy said, stepping forward and lifting his bat.

Five stiffened.

“No, wait!” Walt cried out before Billy could swing his bat.

“What!” Billy yelled, turning toward his friend. “You can’t tell me you believe him! Elliot trusted them and they killed him! I don’t believe a fucking word he says! He has to pay for what he did!”

“I don’t-” Walt said. “Look, even if you don’t… trust him about the apocalypse thing, what about our questions?”

_You_. Five kept his expression neutral as he noted Walt’s choice of words. _If you don’t trust him_. 

“I told you we’re doing this for revenge, Walt!” said Billy. “You know it has to be lying to us!”

At the back of his mind, Five faintly noted that they seemed to not even have the very basics of ‘don’t have your arguments where your hostage can hear you’ down.

“I know, but he’s… small, Billy,” Walt said. “What if he’s just a child? We don’t want to actually kill him…”

“Please don’t hurt me… Sir?” Five offered half-heartedly, taking the opportunity in front of him.

It was a poor enough attempt that both Billy and Walt turned to him with respective looks of anger and disbelief. Billy moved toward Walt and dragged him to the doorway.

“Walt, we _have_ to kill him,” Billy hissed. He was clearly trying to be quiet, but Five had no trouble hearing him. “He’s met us. If we let him go he’s going to go find his alien friends and they’re going to come back and kill us!”

Five’s blood ran cold. He glanced at Walt, whose face had gone pale.

“What? We said we were going to ask him questions!” Walt said in a loud whisper.

“No, you said you wanted to ask him questions,” Billy said. “I said I was going to make him pay.”

“Yeah, you could just punch him or something!” said Walt. “Billy, come on, this is a real life alien, the first one we’ve ever met. You can’t just kill him!”

“You know what? This is enough talking,” said Billy, turning back toward Five. There was a cold, furious intent in his eyes that had Five mentally cursing.

Billy hefted his bat, and then he swung it at Five.

In wild desperation, Five pulled at his powers, the air around his hands shifted as _something_ responded. But it wasn’t enough. There was a crack, and pain lanced through Five’s chest as he felt one of his ribs buckle. All of his breath was knocked from him, and he sagged forward, gasping, eyes scrunched against the pain.

“Billy!” Walt yelled, eyes wide.

Billy paid no attention to Walt, and swung the bat at Five again.

  
  


-

  
  


There was a click, and a creak. Then, light filled the dark, small space around Klaus just seconds before he could tumble into a full on panic attack. 

All of his thumping and wailing had done its job, and the car had come to a stop just a few minutes (seconds?) after Klaus woke up again. He really really really really hated small dark spaces. And the fact that suddenly there was light and air around him again meant that Klaus was far more grateful to the dark shadow standing over him for opening the trunk than he was scared of the fact that he had technically been kidnapped (again).

Klaus squinted at the dark shadow that he thought might be Angry Lady as his eyes adjusted to the light around him. He could hear the distant sound of passing cars on the street.

“Alright, out you come.” Angry Lady’s voice sounded, confirming her identity, before she reached in and grabbed Klaus’ arm, pulling him up and then out from the back of the car.

Klaus stumbled out on coltish legs, struggling to balance with his hands cuffed in front of him, his head still throbbing from where he’d been punched. He looked around with wild eyes only to find himself back in the alleyway behind Elliot’s store. Ben was leaning against the wall next to the door, looking unfairly smug about the whole situation.

With a thump, Angry Lady closed the trunk.

“So here’s the deal.” Angry Lady turned to Klaus with her hands on her hips, and gave him a shark-like smile. “You run away or attack me, then we kill your sister, got it?” 

Klaus stared at her blankly, his mind still stuck in the _trapped dark small scared_ stage, before it clicked. He nodded, and mumbled an ‘okay’ behind the strip of duct tape over his mouth.

“That goes for both of you, by the way.” Angry Lady added, glancing at Ben.

“Sure,” Ben said, looking deeply displeased about it. He didn’t start saying that Angry Lady was lying, so Klaus took that as a sign to believe what he’d been told

The unimpressed look on Ben’s face when he glanced at Klaus told him that Ben blamed _him_ for being here right now, which was, alright, maybe fair. Maybe he should have listened, not that he was ever going to admit that to Ben.

Angry Lady looked over Klaus once before turning to the door, and opening it to go in. Klaus faintly felt like he should be offended for how easily he had been dismissed both as a threat and a source of information, but the fact of it was sort of reassuring, like he didn’t have to be worried he was about to get stabbed or tortured. 

Deciding it was easier to obey (Vanya’s life was on the line, after all), Klaus wandered in after Angry Lady, carefully peeling away the tape from his mouth as they walked up the stairs toward Elliot’s door. Parts of his beard caught painfully on the tape, leaving Klaus’ eyes stinging with tears. 

It looked like they were going to find the others. Klaus wasn’t quite sure why, but he wasn’t going to look the possibility of help and freedom in the mouth and whatnot. As he walked up the stairs, Klaus developed a small fantasy that the others would defeat the Angry Lady together and they could all go save Vanya. Klaus hoped she was okay, wherever she might be.

He focused on the nice thought, trying desperately to drag his thoughts away from the dark cramped small space that he had woken up in, as his mind tried to remind him that he should be terrified.

“If I had a penny for every time I woke up tied up in the trunk of a car…” Klaus mumbled as they turned the bend in the stairwell.

Angry Lady turned back toward him with a frown. “How many times have you woken up in a car trunk?”

“Well, this makes twice?” Klaus said. “Which isn’t a lot, but it’s still sort of weird that it’s happened twice.”

“Hm,” Angry Lady said, taking a moment to think, before she turned toward him with a grin. “Do you want me to make it thrice?”

Klaus shut up, directing a forced smile at his captor as they arrived at Elliot’s door. He stood back and watched as Angry Lady knocked, and then waited.

There was silence from the inside, dampening Klaus’ burgeoning hopes of rescue.

Angry Lady’s brows furrowed, and she knocked again.

Klaus stood there awkwardly as they waited, and were greeted with even more silence.

“Where is everybody?” Angry Lady muttered, staring thoughtfully at the door. She tried the handle once, and found it locked.

“They’re probably out looking for Five?” offered Klaus with a shrug. Their missing brother had been the focus of the rest of his siblings at the time he and Vanya left. Something about how Five would never abandon them without a word after going to all the trouble of finding them a way home. Klaus supposed he should try and let them know that the Commission probably had nothing to do with Five being MIA. Though his current hostage predicament and having no idea where everyone else was sort of hampered that plan a bit.

Angry Lady glanced at him, then pulled out a set of lockpicks from her pocket. She bent down on one knee and got to work.

In a few seconds, the lock clicked open, and she pushed her way into the apartment. Klaus went in after her, assuming he was supposed to follow. He’d never had this sort of free range hostage situation before, half of his instincts screamed at him to run while the other half just told him to play along and see what happens.

“Anybody home?” Angry Lady walked into the sitting area and looked around with a look of growing annoyance.

Again, the only response was silence. Inside, the place didn’t look any different than when Klaus had left. There was no sign of any of the others.

Angry Lady sighed, then turned and moved toward Klaus.

“Uh...” said Klaus as the lady’s hand closed around his wrist and started dragging him toward the nearby radiator. 

He watched as she pulled out the key for the handcuffs from her pocket and uncuffed his left hand, before reaching over and cuffing Klaus to the radiator faster than Klaus could even start trying to run.

“Alright, stay here, would you?” Angry Lady said. 

Then, she left him there and started wandering around the apartment, opening the doors and rifling through cabinets, looking for God knows what.

Klaus sighed dramatically, and slumped against the wall, before sliding all the way down to sit on the ground. From where he was, Klaus had a straight line of sight to a bottle of whiskey sitting on the coffee table. He stared longingly at it, and wondered if it would be viewed as an act of rebellion if he asked Ben to get it for him and then proceeded to get himself hammered.

Said brother was standing beside Klaus, and was staring at him with the Look in his eyes again. 

“Oh don’t you start,” Klaus muttered with a sigh, decidedly refusing to make eye contact.

At this point Klaus didn’t even need to look at Ben’s face to know he was wearing his ‘I told you so’ expression. It was already there in his posture, the crossed arms, the rigid stance, the uptilt of his chin.

“You know Klaus, after all these years I usually just expect you to do the opposite of whatever is a good idea at any time.”

Well, Ben’s definition of a good idea was usually both boring and responsible, and Klaus was, by choice, decidedly neither of those things. And he took pride in it.

“Look, how was I supposed to know that she’d be able to see you?” Klaus said. “She just- took me by surprise, alright?”

Klaus hadn’t been seriously fearing for his own life, and even now, he wasn’t so much as scared of the situation as frustrated and resigned. He wasn’t really the one in danger, Vanya was. Between Klaus’ inability to stay dead and the fact that he could manifest Ben and his Ben-tacles, Klaus didn’t have much fear for his safety anymore. It was just usually, people always underestimated what Klaus was capable of, which never ended well for them. Klaus hadn’t expected the two Commission women to see Ben coming quite so literally.

Ben sighed. “That’s because your reaction speed sucks, Klaus.”  
  


“Yeah well… we’ll workshop it, okay?” mumbled Klaus. Three years leading a spiritual community may have dulled his sense of danger just a little bit. And now that he thought about it a bit more, maybe bar fights with drunk assholes weren’t exactly at the same level as facing down trained secret agents.

Oh well, lessons for the future.

Klaus was starting to spiral into a pit of self pity, thinking about how unlucky and how hungry he was, when Ben suddenly crouched down in front of him. Ben glanced quickly down the hallway at the room Angry Lady was knocking around in, before turning to Klaus.

“You need to get away from her, Klaus,” Ben said in an urgent whisper.

“But what about Vanya?” Klaus whispered back with a frown. Angry Lady literally just told him she’d die if he ran.

“She’ll be fine,” Ben said softly. “It’s clearly Five they’re after, they won’t hurt her as long as they can use her against him. Having you is just a bonus, they don’t actually care about you.”

“You don’t know that,” Klaus said, vaguely affronted even as he kept his voice low. “I could be a very important hostage to them, you know?”

“Klaus, this isn’t a competition,” Ben hissed. “Vanya’s always been Five’s favorite, that’s just a fact.”

“Well, she also nearly caused the apocalypse twice so, I wouldn’t bet on that right now,” Klaus mumbled, suddenly reminded of the fact that no one had even noticed he had been kidnapped the last time around. Sometimes he just liked to feel like he was important, you know? Even if that sometimes snowballed out of control.

Ben rolled his eyes. “Look, just, pay attention and wait for my cue, okay?”

“What are you planning?” Klaus whispered, starting to get worried. Ben was a ghost. What was he going to do? Annoy Angry Lady into letting Klaus go?

Ben shrugged. “You’ll see.”

He stood up again and leaned nonchalantly against the wall. A few seconds later, Angry Lady emerged from the back room. She stopped in front of Klaus with a thoughtful frown on her face.

“Oh hey,” Klaus perked up, doing his best to look like he hadn’t just been conspiring with his brother moments ago. “Do you think we can order some takeout? I’m starving.”

Angry Lady looked at him, considering. “Really? You’re thinking about food right now?”

“You can’t judge me for having a basic human need,” Klaus said. “And it’s dinner time.”

Angry Lady sighed, and then went to check the fridge.

“You know what I miss? Thai food.” Klaus mused. He really wanted a good curry right now. “And I haven’t been able to find any good Indian around. Everywhere you look it’s just boring diner stuff and you can only enjoy so many burgers, you know?”

Angry Lady turned and frowned at him. “You know, you were so much more tolerable when you were quiet? You’re as bad as your brother.”

“Which one?” Klaus asked, unable to help himself. “Wait, don’t tell me. It’s Five, isn’t it? I do wonder sometimes if he would come across as more or less condescending if he actually looked like the old man he is.”

“Maybe I should just kill you to make things easier,” Angry Lady mumbled.

“Doesn’t it defeat the point of having a hostage if you kill them?”

“We still have Vanya and those other two,” Angry Lady said, perfectly echoing Ben’s sentiments from earlier. So maybe Ben was onto something when he said Klaus didn’t matter to them, well how about that?

“I suppose you’re right,” Klaus sighed. “That’s fine. At this rate I’ll starve to death and you’ll be rid of me anyway.”

“Christ,” Angry Lady rolled her eyes. She walked back into the sitting area, looking vaguely at a loss about what to do. Then, a frown settled over her face, and she started moving toward the dentist chair near the stairs. 

The thing was still covered with dried blood. Poor Elliot. Klaus had briefly met the guy when he first arrived here with Five and Allison, but they hadn’t really exchanged so much as a hello when Five shooed the man away to have his top secret debriefing. He didn’t know much about the guy, but he definitely didn’t deserve to go out the way he did.

Out of the corner of his eye, Klaus saw Ben start to move closer to Angry Lady.

Klaus frowned, wondering what the hell his brother was up to as he watched. Ben’s steps were silent as he moved behind her. Angry Lady was staring at the blood-stained upholstery with her back turned, looking thoughtful, yet almost sad with a hand at her chin, and slumped shoulders.

Ben stopped about eight feet behind, and then shifted his stance. Klaus’ eyes widened, knowing something was going to happen.

Then, Ben took off at a full run, and dove into the woman’s body.

Instantly, Angry Lady stiffened and froze as Ben’s shape disappeared into her. Then, her body began to shake violently.

“Holy shit, Ben!” Klaus said. He stared, agape, realizing that _this_ was Ben’s plan.

Klaus watched, rapt, as Angry Lady stumbled around, fighting as Ben tried to gain control of her body. There was screaming, and yelling, both in Ben’s voice as he was shoved out of the body, and from the lady when he pulled himself back in again. Gradually, Ben gained more and more control, and with stilted, jerking movements, Angry Lady’s hands started reaching into her pocket. 

Within seconds, Ben pulled out the keys to Klaus cuffs and awkwardly threw it at Klaus. It landed just a few feet in front of Klaus with a soft clink, too far for him to reach.

“Go!” Ben shouted at him with Angry Lady’s voice. 

Klaus stared at the key for all of a stunned second before he pushed away from the wall and started trying to stretch his foot toward it, muttering curses the whole while. The key was just an inch or so out of reach, Klaus growled, stretching out as far as he could. He was pulling so hard on the cuffs his hand was burning with pain, but he couldn’t quite reach even when he stretched his toe as far as it could go.

Klaus chanced a look over at Ben and Angry Lady to find the two were still fighting each other for control. Half of Ben’s body was being shoved out of the woman as she tried to push Ben out of her body, but Ben was fighting her tooth and nail trying to pull himself back in.

Turning back to stare at the key, Klaus toed off one of his shoes in a flash of inspiration. Then, he carefully picked it up with both feet, before dropping near the key. Cackling, Klaus used the shoe to drag the piece of metal closer until he could move it with his foot.

The second the key was within reach, Klaus swept it up with his free hand and stabbed it into the keyhole. Then, with a twist and a click, Klaus was free.

“Run!” Ben’s voice called out to him from Angry Lady.

“No!” Angry Lady shouted, as she stumbled a few steps toward Klaus, before Ben stole control and pulled her back again.

Klaus didn’t have to be told twice. He grabbed his shoe and then ran awkwardly for the door, pulling it open before bursting into the stairwell.

Without looking back, Klaus ran down the stairs, fleeing for his life.

  
  


-

  
  


There was a solemn silence in the car on their way back to Dallas.

In contrast to the wild theorizing and speculation that had filled the air on their way to the farm, this time there was only the sound of the engine and the grind of the tires on the country roads. However, the sense of anger and frustration among all of them was no less palpable. Now, not only was Five missing, but both Vanya and Klaus, as well as Sissy and Harlan, were in the Commission’s clutches. In the span of an hour, things had gotten from awful to somehow even worse.

Allison, arms crossed in the front seat, heaved a sigh. “We need a plan.”

“We need to find Five,” said Diego.

“That’s a goal, Diego, that’s not a plan,” Luther said, resisting the urge to echo Allison’s sigh. They had no leads, no clues. The Swede was innocent, the Commission clearly didn’t have Five if their boss was demanding for them to find him, and that left… no one. Who else was even left with a grudge against Five and the family? An eye for an eye? Who had Five gone and pissed off?

“There is no plan because we have no leads except for the note, and his tie,” Diego said. “That’s it. And it’s not like we can dust it for fingerprints and look them up in a database. We’re on the run from the police and have no one to help us. Face it, we’re screwed.”

“Well, then why the hell did you say yes to her?” Luther said, as frustration flared. They could have just made a stand there in the farmhouse and explained to the HAndler why it wasn’t possible. “We promised to bring back Five so she’d let the others go!”

“Because we need to stall her, Luther,” said Diego. “What were you going to do? Tell her we can’t find Five so she’ll just kill Vanya and Klaus when she realizes she won’t gain anything from keeping them around?”

“What do you mean _kill_ them?” Luther said, disbelieving. “But she said she only wants to talk to Five.”

“If she’s holding Vanya and Klaus hostage to ensure he cooperates then I don’t think we can take her word for that, Luther,” said Allison. “The Commission’s been trying to kill us this whole time, why would they suddenly change their mind about that?”

“But Axel said that the Handler killed her brother, why kill one of her own agents if she wants us dead?”

That pointed to the Handler being on their side, at least in some capacity.

“Look, I don’t know what her plot is or what the history between her and Five is,” Diego said. “But I know one thing, and it’s that she can’t be trusted.”

“There has to be a way to track down Five,” Allison said. “Look, there has to be something we’re not seeing here. These people, they’re getting revenge for something, right? What has Five been doing? Did he hurt someone? You said he showed up covered in blood at one point, right? That had to have come from somewhere.”

“Hell if I know,” Diego muttered. “Five wouldn’t tell us anything. God, maybe if I can find a way to talk to Herb. What about that Swede? He should have a way to contact the Commission.”

“What happened to not trusting him?” Luther said, remembering Diego’s rage from just earlier. “You were trying to kill him, Diego.”

“And doesn’t the Handler _run_ the Commission?” Allison added. “Could your friend help us without being found out?”

“Well, what choice do we have?” Diego grumbled. “Who else do we have to help us? It’s not like I can just call up friends on the force and ask whether anyone’s seen an annoying thirteen year olds being kidnapped,”

Calling a friend. That was it.

“Uh… I have an idea,” Luther said hesitantly.

“What is it?” said Allison, turning around in her seat.

It was risky, and the last time he talked to him they hadn’t parted on the best of terms. But there was one man Luther could think of who had the contacts, the influence, and the resources to maybe help track down a missing child...

“So…” Luther said, “my old boss…”

“Wait, the crime lord?” said Diego. “You want to ask fucking Jack Ruby for help?”

“Oh, that’s going to help the whole terrorist ring thing.” Allison sighed.

“Isn’t he about to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald?” said Diego. 

“Yeah but that doesn’t happen for like, a while right?” said Luther. “They’ve barely just arrested Oswald.”

“What makes you think he can help?” Allison said.

“Well he… helped me track you down.” said Luther.

Allison gaped at him. “You gave my name to a criminal?”

“No it’s just, he has contacts and things. I mean, it’s not the Commission, right? So maybe it’s someone local? Maybe Jack can find out who Five might have pissed off, or at least find out if the police has had any reports of suspicious incidents.”

This could work, and Luther knew it. They had no clues, nowhere else to go for help. They didn’t have any other options.

The silence from his siblings told Luther they knew it too.

Diego was the first to break the silence. “Shit.”

“It’s a good idea, right?” said Luther, feeling vaguely proud of himself.

“But Luther, didn’t you piss him off?” Diego said. “That’s why you got kicked out of your boarding house, you lost a fight or something, didn’t you?”

“Uh…” Luther didn’t like where this was going. “Yeah? But I’m sure we could smooth things over, especially with Allison here.”

“No, look, an eye for an eye?” Diego said. “Luther, what if Jack Ruby kidnapped Five?”

“Oh shit,” Allison said.

Luther’s first thought was that it was ridiculous. Because why would Jack go after someone who was, by all appearances, just a child? Jack’s beef was with him, and it meant that if anyone was going to get hurt, it would be Luther.

Right?

“No, he’s-” Luther said, hesitant. “He’s not that kind of guy.”

“He’s a criminal who’s about to shoot a guy for killing the president, I think he might be exactly that kind of guy,” said Diego. “Shit, we need to go talk to him.”

“Look, I’m saying he didn’t do it, alright?” said Luther, shutting Diego down before he could go deeper down his rabbit hole. “But, yeah, we should go talk to him. Maybe he can help us find Five.”

Whether or not Jack Ruby took Five, the best thing for them to do was to find him, and talk to him.

“Well,” said Allison, her voice hesitant. “It sounds like we’re going to find Jack Ruby.”

Diego cursed. “Alright, which way?”

Luther knew the directions.

  
  


-

  
  


When Vanya opened her eyes, she found herself staring at a familiar fireplace, her arm numb beneath her. She felt unusually sluggish, and thoughts were slow to form in her mind. Faintly, she knew that something wasn’t right, though in that moment, she couldn’t quite place what it was. 

For a few seconds, she stared confusedly at the stones, listening to the sound of clinking cutlery. Memories returned to her, little by little. The barn, Harlan, the two Commission visitors.

The Handler and Lila.

Worry and fear instantly took hold. Remembering the danger she was in, Vanya tried to move only to find that her hands were cuffed together in front of her. Awkwardly, she pushed herself up, and realized she was inside the farmhouse. The Handler was nearby at the dining table, halfway through a meal of steak and vegetables. There was a second plate across from her, the food hidden beneath a metal cover.

“Ah, you’re awake.” The Handler said, her eyes lighting up. “I was starting to get a little bit worried about you.”

Vanya, heart racing and ready for a fight, immediately called on her powers. But instead of the answering thrum, she found only silence. Her thoughts, even her feelings, were dull and muted. Her fear was nothing like the sharp terror she had felt in the FBI office, her anger over the situation felt like a simmering flame instead of a roaring blaze. 

The feeling was terrifyingly familiar.

“You must be getting hungry, would you like some dinner?” the Handler said, gesturing at the lidded plate across from her with her knife.

“What did you-?” Vanya said, even as realization dawned on her. “What did you do to me?”

The Handler smiled sweetly. “Oh, I thought you’d be familiar with the effects of your old medication.”

Vanya recognized the feeling, of course she did. She had lived this way for over twenty years of her life. The numbness was leaving her arm now, replaced with the stinging pain of pins and needles, she glanced down, and saw a red needle mark in the crook of her elbow. 

“You drugged me?” Vanya said.

“Oh, come now, you didn’t think I was going to let you have access to your powers, were you?” said the Handler. “You _did_ try to attack us last time.”

“You-” Vanya shot to her feet, blinking as a wave of vertigo swept over her. Losing her balance, she fell back onto the couch again. “Shit.”

“It’s okay, take it easy,” the Handler said. “Don’t do anything silly now, think about that sweet mother and her son, what was his name? Harlan? Oh, and your brother of course.”

The blood in Vanya’s veins turned to ice at the mention of the others. Sissy, Harlan. If she hurt them-

“W-what did you do to them?”

“Why, nothing,” the Handler said. “They’re my guests, Vanya. Much like you are, as long as you remember your manners.”

Vanya clenched her jaw in anger, her hands curling into fists. “Do you always put your ‘guests’ in handcuffs?”

“Only the untrustworthy ones,” the Handler said, in between bites. “And unfortunately, Vanya, I can’t quite trust you just yet.”

“Where are they?” Vanya said. “Where’s Sissy, and Harlan? They’re just regular people, they’re not part of this. You don’t need anything from them.”

“Ah, but they mean a lot to you, don’t they?” said the Handler with a smile. “If you’re patient, I’m sure you’ll all be reunited very quickly. It’s not you or them that I want after all.”

The Handler didn’t have to speak the threat aloud for Vanya to understand it. She was holding onto them to make sure she behaved. There was no telling where she had taken them, the only way to make sure Sissy and Harlan were safe was to do as she was told.

Vanya faintly wondered how Sissy must feel about her now. When she first arrived Sissy had had her own life, even if she was miserable, she had her husband and her son. All Vanya had done… after everything she’d put her through.

Vanya swallowed, and forced herself to meet the Handler’s gaze. “What do you want?”

“That’s an excellent question,” said the Handler in between bites. “You know, I’ve always been curious about you Vanya. Because I must say, you truly are _something._ Not a lot of people can lay claim to causing the apocalypse twice over. That whole moon thing? That is really rather remarkable.”

Vanya frowned, confused. The Handler talked about her like ending the world was some sort of honor that made her exceptional. Some small part of her still cried out in joy at the acknowledgement that she was special. The return of her memories had also given her back all of her self-hatred and feelings of inferiority. The feeling of it left a bad taste in her mouth.

“I- I wasn’t trying to end the world,” Vanya said weakly. “It was an accident.”

“Yes, well, accidents lead to the most interesting of situations, doesn’t it?” said the Handler. “That’s the thing about free will, there’s no saying how your actions can ripple out despite your intentions. I’d be out of a job without accidents like yours.”

Vanya didn’t know what to say to that. The Handler still hadn’t told Vanya why she was here, and all her talk of the apocalypse was starting to make her wonder.

“Do you... want me to destroy the world again? Is that what this is about?”

The Handler chuckled, amusement crossing her face. “Not everything is about the fate of the world, Vanya. Despite what _Number Five_ might lead you to believe.”

There was a strange affection in her voice when she said Five’s name, and Vanya didn’t know what to make of it. Five had worked for them, hadn’t he? Did Five and her know each other?

“So why am I here?” Vanya said.

“Well, like I said, you are my guest,” said the Handler. “And the fact of you being here is a little test, if you will, to see if your siblings care enough about your wellbeing to get me what I want.”

“So I’m a hostage?”

“Hostage is such an ugly word,” said the Handler. “But... Yes, you are.”

“And what is it that you want from them?”

“Why, I want them to bring me that charming brother of yours, of course,” the Handler said, stretching out a hand. “About this tall? Skinny little thing. Very cute shorts. Let’s just say we still have some... unfinished business.”

“Five?” Vanya said. “What are you going to do to him?”

“To talk.” The Handler said cheerily.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“To be honest, it doesn’t really matter to me what you believe,” said the Handler. “I have my doubts whether your siblings would even hold up their end of the bargain.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, if you think about it, would they actually care enough to risk Number Five for little world-destroying Vanya? That remains to be seen, don’t you think?”

“That’s not-” 

Even as she started to argue, doubt crossed Vanya’s mind. She hadn’t been on good terms with the others even before what happened at the theatre, Diego had hated her. And though the others had been kind when they found out she had lost her memories, after she had apologized for something she didn’t remember doing, was it still the same now that she did remember everything?

Vanya wanted to say yes. But just like everything else, wanting to be special, wanting to be a part of the family, wanting to get out of third chair, what she wanted had always been different from her reality.

“I’m not the only one here.” Vanya said in the end. “You have Sissy and Harlan, you have Klaus.”

“So you agree, you don’t think they care about you?” said the Handler, raising an eyebrow.

Vanya had almost killed Allison, ended the world once and came close to doing it again just today. She had spent all of her life being ignored until suddenly she had powers, and then-

“I-” Vanya hesitated. “They saved me in the FBI building.”

Vanya remembered the warmth of Allison's hug, the affection behind Klaus’ teasing, the relief in Luther and Diego’s eyes when she woke up again, and Ben, there was everything Ben had told her. She wasn’t alone at the table anymore. The others cared about her, right? They’d saved her.

“Well, because you were about to cause the apocalypse,” the Handler said. “No one would even have had any idea you were in any danger if not for that. Isn’t it sad?”

Hurt stabbed through Vanya’s heart before she reminded herself that the Handler was only trying to manipulate her. She wasn’t going to fall victim to her mind games.

“None of that matters,” said Vanya. Whether or not her siblings cared about her, it didn’t change the fact that they were important to Vanya. “Whatever it is you want, I won’t let you hurt Five, or any of the others.”

“Aw... it’s really sweet, how you care,” said the Handler, before her expression twisted with something like sympathy. “Considering in one version of the future, Five certainly didn’t hesitate to kill you.”

Vanya’s eyes widened, and something cold gripped her heart. “What are you talking about?”

“It means that I took the steps to make sure your brother wouldn’t be the one with the gun in his hand on that little stage,” the Handler said. “I saved your life, you know that?”

What was she talking about? Vanya furrowed her brows, speechless in her confusion.

“He would have shot you, you know? Right… here.” the Handler said, gesturing at her forehead. “Splattered your brains all over that little stage, thinking it’d stop the apocalypse.”

“What-” Vanya had no idea whether or not to believe her. “But you stopped him? How?”

“Oh, please, did you think the Commision only ever killed people to influence the timeline?” The Handler laughed. “Sometimes all it takes to change the world is a little… champagne and conversation. I was _very_ good at my job, you know?”

“Well,” Vanya said, after a moment, not knowing what to make of the Handler’s words, whether or not she should even believe her. “I’m not going to thank you for it.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t expect you to,” said the Handler. “And look, if you’re not going to eat, then at least settle in, my dear. We have a bit of a wait ahead of us.”

Vanya looked at the plate. She was hungry, but she didn’t trust whatever the Handler put in front of her. So she sat where she was, and stared at her hands, fighting through the fog in her brain to figure out what to do. 

She tried not to think about the Handler’s words, but they kept coming back to her. Five had shot her, killed her, in some other timeline that was overwritten. Part of her hurt at the thought, but whether or not it was true, Vanya told herself it didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter. Vanya had almost ended the world, she _had_ ended it before everyone travelled back in time. It made sense to trade one life for the fates of everyone else. Even if the Handler’s words were true - and it might not be, she could be lying to her - that didn’t mean Five didn’t care about her. Even if Allison had refused to do the same when the gun was in her hand, it didn’t mean-

Vanya stopped herself before she could spiral too far down.

“They’ll come,” Vanya said softly. Though she didn’t know if she wanted them to. 

Maybe she could find a way to escape, maybe she could get out of here.

“Maybe,” the Handler smiled. “I suppose we will find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter - Five goes full alien, Klaus tries to find his siblings, ADL meets JR

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts I am awful at replies but I love and treasure every comment. 
> 
> As always, feel free to come yell about this dumb fam on my tumblr, where you can find me at [ingu](https://ingu.tumblr.com).


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